Joining the Police as a probationary ASP: A dream come true

Excerpted from A Challenge for the Police
by Kingsley Wickramasuriy,
Retired Senior DIG

March 27, 1963 was the dawn of a new era in my life. I had just returned from school around 3.00 pm when I was treated with shouts of Congratulations! by my friends at the boarding house; Neville and Podi Wickremasinghe, and the others at the house. I was throbbing with expectations, eager to hear the news. They produced a copy of “Daily News” carrying the news. The news item read:

Public Service appointments

The Public Service Commission has selected the undermentioned

Candidates for appointment as Probationary Assistant Superintendents of Police.Mr. M.M.K. Mendis (the writer’s previous name) , Mr. M. Shanmugan and Mr. H.G. Gunawardena.

This was the news I was waiting for many moons having put all my energy and hopes towards achieving this goal. My dream as a youngster was to join one of the disciplined services, the Army or the Police.

While still a student at school, I joined the School Cadet Platoon at the first available opportunity and participated in all its training activities like parades, camping, 0.22 shooting etc. That instilled discipline in me and eventually, it enthused me to join one of the disciplined Services – the Police or the Army. It was, indeed my training as a cadet of the Ceylon Cadet Corps (CCC) at school that influenced my thinking of joining one of the disciplined services.

It seems that I was carving out my destiny the day I decided to join the Cadet Platoon in school at Kalutara Maha Vidyalaya. The discipline this instilled in me left an indelible mark on my character and consequently my preference for a future career. At first, it was going to be the Army. But my University education, my liking for aesthetic arts which drew me to Dr. Sarathchandra and his drama, and the keen interest that my elder brother took in my advancement and welfare, all had a great influence on changing course midway of the selection of a career from the army to police.

My brother who took on himself the grave responsibility of looking after my education did much research in finding what he deemed a proper career for me. Although the Ceylon Civil Service was the craze at the time that almost every young graduate was fired with the ambition of joining it, my brother found out that a Probationary Assistant Superintendent is an increment ahead of a CCS cadet in salary at the start.

Added to that of course, were the glamour of the uniform plus the power that carried with it and perhaps the prospect of rising through the ranks to the top job as the Inspector-General. He therefore, considered it more prestigious than what the CCS had to offer as a career. To him, it was one of the most coveted jobs that I could get.

His calculations showed that if I were to apply for the post of probationary ASP after doing an honors degree, I would be overage by one year. Therefore, to be qualified to be within the age I had to do a general degree. I was not averse to his idea. He convinced me that that was to be my destiny. I too believed in what he believed. I went along with his thinking and decided to do a General Degree.

This of course allowed me to devote more time to extracurricular activities like drama, boxing, weight lifting etc. Later I also took to writing (Sinhala) poetry in a sudden gush of poetic thoughts overwhelming my imagination in my final year.

After sitting the final examination, a register was opened at the University Senate by the Department of Education for those who would consider a teaching job after graduation to register themselves. By that time vacancies in the police for Probationary ASPs had not been gazetted. I did not even know whether there would be any vacancies for the post. All this while I had taken my chances without any definite indication that there would be any vacancies in the cadre of Probationary ASPs around that time to be within the eligible age limit. So, I registered myself for a teaching post before leaving the University in early April 1962.

Later in the month, I received a letter from the Director of Education, Malay Street, Colombo 2 appointing me as an assistant teacher to Ampara Maha Vidyalaya with effect from May 2, 1962. The letter was dated April 25, 1962. Whilst the appointment was welcome in a way, it was not so welcome considering the sights I had set on securing the post in the police. I wanted to be close to Kandy where I could use the University Library and the Gymnasium in preparation for the examination and the viva-voce that I would have to face in the event there was a vacancy in the police.

I wanted to use the Library for reading and the Gymnasium for physical development to come up with the required knowledge and physical standards for selection to the police. So, I decided to get the appointment changed closer to Kandy. In the meanwhile, St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota advertised a teaching appointment. I applied not being sure whether I could get my appointment changed.

In response, I received a letter form the Principal of St. Anthony’s College dated May 2, 1962, requesting me to accept an appointment from May 21, 1962. In the meanwhile, I also received another letter from the Director of Education canceling the earlier appointment and transferring me to Kengalla Maha Vidyalaya in the Kandy Region. The transfer was effective from May 7, 1962.

Whilst teaching at Kengalla I saw vacancies in the Volunteer Force of the Army being advertised. I applied to join and was selected for a Commission in the Ceylon National Guard of the Ceylon Volunteer Force the same year. I was asked to report to the Headquarters of the Ceylon National Guard at Lower Lake Road, Colombo 2 on October 5, 1962, ready to go for four weeks of training at Diyatalawa, commencing on Oct. 8

When I reported at CNG Headquarters I found a large number of volunteers, officers, and other ranks to be sent for training gathered there. We were sorted into groups and sent by train to Diyatalawa for training. The training was quite strenuous. It included foot drills, physical training, firing practice to tactics. We also had a taste of wining and dining in the Officers’ Mess and training in Mess etiquette.

All told we had a good glimpse of Army-life from what we went through at Diyatalawa. After four weeks of training, we passed out as Second Lieutenants. However, I was to return to Diyatalawa later, this time for the Officer Quality Test as an applicant for a Commission in the Regular Army. I was joined by some who were with me either at Peradeniya University or at training as volunteer Officers like Thilak Ponnamperuma, Dingo Dharmapala, Seneviratne, Walter Ranawana, Daya Wijesekera, Harry Coomaraswamy (class-mate at Royal), Lucky Algama, Lankathilake, and Ranjan Silva.

In the meantime, as if by fortuitous circumstance, the failed coup d’etat of 1962 created three vacancies in the police for the post of Probationary ASPs was gazetted while I was at training at Diyatalawa opening the door for me and the others to join the police as Probationers. My brother who was monitoring the vacancies got me to fill up the application form obtained from the Public Service Commission and had it sent in time.

My referees were Mr. H. Jinadasa C.C.S who was then the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Broadcasting and Mr. G.P. Samarawickrema, Proctor SC, and JPUM of the Galle Bar. One was a student and the other was a friend of my father. By letter dated December 12, 1962, the PSC granted permission to sit for the examination for recruitment of Probationary ASP. Later, vacancies in the Ceylon Civil Service were also advertised.

I applied to sit for the examination for the selection of candidates and was granted permission to sit for the examination for admission to Administrative Posts in the Public Service including the Ceylon Civil Service. This was on March 6, 1963. But by letter of March 5, 1963, I was asked to present myself at the preliminary interview on March 18. Accordingly, I reported for the interview in Room no 102, First Floor, Galle Face Secretariat, Colombo. Mr. N.Q. Dias, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, and the Mr. S.A. Dissanayke Inspector-General of Police were two of the members of the interview panel, I could faintly remember.

One of the questions asked was concerning discipline. Discipline is something that was instilled in me by now with cadetting in school and now with Army training. So, I had no difficulty in dealing with that subject. From the emphasis in my answer on discipline, I could see from the response of the Board members that I had made quite an impression on them. Soon after, I was called for the final interview.

The interview was on March 26, 1963 and was held in Room No. 101, of the same Secretariat. This time there was a larger panel consisting of the previous two, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ceylon, Sir Nicholas Attygalle, and the Chairman of the Public Service Commission. Present for the interview were several candidates amongst who I could remember Rajendra, one of my classmates at Royal College, and Shanmugam who was a senior to me at Peradeniya University.

This time the panel member’s were interested in my book (of Sinhala) poems a copy of which I produced at the interview as one of my achievements and proof of my extra-curricular activities. Their curiosity was about my non-conformist style of poetry writing following the Peradeniya School of Poetry quite popular at the time. From their response, I knew that I had already made my mark and these were just questions for formalities sake.

One thing that struck me was the question Mr. N.Q. Dias asked me. By this time, I had appeared before him for interviews for the selection to the Army having successfully passed the Office Quality Test at Diyatalawa and he appeared keen to get me to join the Army. He wanted to know why I preferred the Police to the Army. My reply was that the police would allow continuing with my interest in cultural activities rather than the cloistered life of the Army in Barracks. He pooh-pooped the idea and appeared to be annoyed.

However, I came out of the room somewhat confident with the gut feeling that I had clinched one of the three vacant posts. So, when I read the ‘Daily News’ of March 27 I knew that I was correct. There I was first in order of merit. I had finally realized my dream; the dream that I had entertained for so

long; the dream that I had strived so hard for with meticulous planning and the dream that I had for almost all my life, thanks to the support and guidance of my brother. That was his dream too. It was his dream more than mine. He too strived hard to make this dream come true. I did not fail him. In the end, both were winners, happy and contented.

Simultaneously, I was called to join the Army by telegram. I received the telegram on April 6, 1963. It read “Please confirm within 48 hours whether you are willing to accept an appointment in the Army in the rank of the second lieutenant”. The sender was the Commander of the Army. I politely turned down the offer.

The next thing I did was to send my letter of resignation from my post of Assistant Teacher to the Assistant Director of Education for the Central Region in Kandy. This I did on March 27, 1963. I had to give a month’s notice to get myself released. At the time of my resignation, I was an assistant teacher attached to Kegalle Maha Vidylaya drawing a salary of Rs. 2,700.00 per annum and allowances. I served in this capacity from May 7, 1962, to April 30, 1963. Then on April 5, 1963, 1 wrote to the Commanding Officer of the Ceylon Volunteer Force resigning from my Commission.

In the meanwhile, I received the letter of appointment from the Public Service Commission dated April 3, 1963. According to the stipulated conditions of the letter of appointment the post carried a salary scale of Rs. 4,440.00 per annum with 11 annual increments of Rs.360.00 and 10 annual increments of Rs. 480.00 reaching a maximum of Rs. 13,200.00. There were also two efficiency bars before reaching the annual salary scales of Rs.8,400.00 and 11,760.00.

I was also required to get through the stipulated Sinhala proficiency examination and other departmental examinations before being confirmed under Administrative Regulation 121. These were some of the stipulated conditions among several others like the declaration of assets, being medically fit, a contribution of four percent of the salary to the Widows & Orphans Fund, etc.

The letter was duly acknowledged. This was followed by a letter from the Deputy Inspector-General in charge of Administration asking me to report to the Acting Director of the Police Training School at Katukurunda, Kalutara before 6.00 pm on May 1, 1963. This was to be the dawn of a new chapter in my life. I was eagerly waiting for it to start.

( To be continued)