Supporting Community Policing & Police Reform
Among the damaging legacies of Sri Lanka’s decades of civil conflict has been the erosion of trust between citizens and police officers in communities across the country. This was particularly true in the Northern and Eastern provinces which bore the brunt of the violent conflict. With the end of the war, there has been renewed interest and growing acceptance of the need for a community-oriented style of policing to ensure post-conflict stability and normalisation. Yet, a decade after the end of armed conflict, officers still struggle to inspire and build public trust in policing and more must be done to strengthen the relationship between communities and the police, particularly in conflict-affected areas.
