MUHEED JEERAN
COLOMBO : A police station’s burden mainly relies on cases related to private disputes, minor drug offences, and petty theft and crimes. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Officer in charge of the police station to apply a crime prevention programme to reduce the burden of receiving complaints about miscellaneous crimes and disputes. However, the majority of police stations are spending more time uncovering the crime after it has already occurred, which is not the right strategy.
Today I walked into Dam Street police station to meet OIC Chief Inspector Ajith Peduruarachchi. I confront the police to safeguard their rights, but at the same time, I motivate and support them whenever I see positive development from them. While I was talking to him, two Muslim girls about 16 years old visited his office and had a small discussion with him in front of me. There was another policeman who joined the discussion with them. OIC was asking those girls about the topic, and they told him there would be a drama on drug awareness and speeches, etc. I noted that these teens were very actively talking inside the police station. After they left his office, I asked the OIC about them and their reason for the meeting. He said they are from deprived areas, and I am running youth projects to keep them away from bad activities. He has already provided some youth projects to 75 young boys and girls in that area, ages 16 to 20. Currently, he is running a motivational project for 25 youngsters in the area. He said the project will be completed by the end of this month, and we are planning to have a programme to close the project. His motivation is free and he is not getting any sponsors or funds, but he expects the area police committee to get some support to issue a certificate to the participating students and some other small expenses.
I had a long discussion related to his programmes to build a young society that is not involved in crimes. He said his motivation project for these teens was not just relying on lectures and sports related activities. He included a programme on parent-child bonding by inviting all the parents of these students. Also, he invited these teens to visit the police station, observe all branches and how they work, and talk to suspects in the police cell. He is also planning to take these teens to visit the prison and talk to prisoners. Actually, it is a very interesting project, but it his own idea. Now he has at least 100 youngsters in his programme.
In 2004, when he was the OIC of community police at the Grandpass police station, he did a project to help the homeless and underprivileged children get back to school. Former DIG Sirsena Herath guided and monitored the programme. Ajith Peduruarachchi managed to take 804 children back to school by getting sponsorship support from Bata DSI etc. He managed to admit 15 children to Sri Sangabodhi Vidyalaya and one day he made a visit to meet the vice principal. Those children were with the vice principal, and after they noted his arrival, all the children ran towards him and surrounded him. He said he had tears as those children were thanking him by showing him their shoes, bags, etc that they never had in their lives.
This officer never received a public reward for his previous achievements or his current humanitarian programme. However, he said “almighty God gave unexpected opportunities to my children. My three sons received 5 best schools in Colombo, but I chose St. Peter’s College for them. My only daughter received St. Bridget’s Convent. The donations I made were very small. So it was my good cause for those underprivileged children that only brought this opportunity to my children.”
I hope the public will recognise his humanitarian service in the future, as it is the responsibility of society to motivate them.(Muheed Jeeran
International Human Rights Activist)
