Sri Lanka plans new police uniforms and improved promotion system

Sri Lanka’s police officers could receive new uniforms by the middle of next year, alongside a revised promotion system intended to make the force a more respected profession.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced the plans at a ceremony marking the 160th Police Day at the Field Force Headquarters in Thimbirigasyaya. He said the government would also provide risk allowances to all police officers, improve essential infrastructure and take steps to recruit the staff the force needs.

Dissanayake praised the police for their role during conflicts, pandemics and other disasters over the past 160 years. He said the force had served the public and worked to preserve public order and security through different periods and under changing responsibilities.

But he pointed to drug trafficking and the criminal gangs connected to it as the police’s most important current duty. He called on officers to treat the fight as a social responsibility that goes beyond their professional obligations and to dedicate themselves to it.

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The foremost responsibility currently entrusted to the Sri Lanka Police is the national responsibility of suppressing the drug trafficking trade and the criminal gangs connected to it.