Police and the Urban Development Authority have agreed a joint security plan for 24 UDA-managed housing complexes in and around Colombo, with new police posts to be established after officials raised concerns about drug trafficking inside some of the blocks.
The plan was settled at a discussion at the Colombo Deputy Inspector General’s Office, held on the direction of Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya and chaired by Colombo Division DIG Nishantha de Zoysa, the Daily Mirror reported.
The complexes in question
The 24 complexes house residents relocated under the Urban Regeneration Project, the programme that moved families from low-income settlements in Colombo into high-rise apartment blocks. The stated aim of the initiative is to protect the lives and property of those residents through a single coordinated police security plan rather than leaving each block to the station in whose area it happens to fall.
What was agreed
Officials discussed concerns over drug trafficking in certain housing complexes, and its reported connection to vandalism and damage to public property — the two problems were treated as linked rather than separate.
The measures agreed are:
- Establishing new police posts at the complexes
- Repairing and improving existing police facilities
- Increasing regular patrols
- Strict legal action over offences involving public property
Newswire reported that the renovation of existing posts and the selection of sites for additional ones will be done in consultation with the UDA, and that the meeting was attended by officers from the Colombo Central and Colombo South police divisions along with officers-in-charge of individual stations.
Following proposals put forward by UDA Director General Eng. Damith Dissanayake, nearby police stations were instructed to implement the measures.
Context
The commitment to staff new posts lands against a stated shortfall in the force. The IGP said this week that Sri Lanka Police is short of between 38,000 and 40,000 officers, with about 1,500 of 10,000 approved recruits so far enlisted.
Not reported
Neither account names the 24 complexes, says how many new posts will be built or when, gives a cost or a source of funding, or states how many officers the plan requires. Neither gives figures for drug-related arrests or reported offences at the complexes, and no resident or residents’ association response appears in either report. Newswire, whose filing is a day earlier than the Daily Mirror’s, is not among the verified newsrooms LankaNewz counts toward its credibility rating; neither report gives the date of the meeting itself.