Rookies at the Police Training School, Katukurunda

Excerpted from A Challenge to the Police, a memoir from Snr. DIG (Rtd.) Kingsley Wickramasuriya

(Continued from last week)

The training started soon after appointment as a Probationary ASP at the Police Training School (PTS), Katukurunda, Kalutara. May 1, 1963, was a Wednesday. I reported at 10.30 am at the office of the Director PTS’. It is a large training complex consisting of several facilities located on a 30-acre block of land.

As you enter the school you see the Co-operative Stores, the hairdressing saloon, Director’s office, the administration block on one side, and the school Charge Room on the opposite side. Trainee barracks of the recruit constables called Police Stations are spread over the premises. Some of them are named after a few retired Inspectors-General and others after some of the kings of yore. They were called Jenkins, Campbell, Dowbiggin, Rajasinghe, Elara, Gemunu, Tissa, and Vijaya.

The men are provisioned through the Junior Staff Mess (JSM). Senior Staff Mess (SSM) housed some of the lecturers, trainees coming for the Inspectors’ Promotion Class, and probationary sub-inspectors. The training and administrative staff from the Director Training downward is provided with housing on the premises.

It has its own medical facility and recreational ground called Brindley Grounds and a large parade ground called Aluvihare Grounds and a large assembly hall called the Magul Maduwa. It also has a small-arm firing range and (now) a full-fledged firing range for rifle shooting etc. It is also equipped with tennis courts, stables and riding school, and (now) a swimming pool. It also has a dairy farm maintained under the Farm Development Fund. Curd, one of the products of this farm is available to the trainees and the training staff at the School through the Cooperative Stores at a competitive price. The dagoba which is a new addition was constructed later during the period of Mr. K.D.C. Ekanayake when he was the Director of the PTS.

The School was administered by a Director Training (DT) of the rank of a Superintendent of Police and was assisted by an Assistant Director. Our first (Acting) Director of Training was Mr. K.D.C. Ekanayake. Being a senior ASP near promotion he was acting in the rank of a Superintendent and was a strict disciplinarian. Each Police Station had an Officer in Charge of the rank of at least a Sub-inspector assisted by a Police Sergeant and other staff In addition, there were Drill Instructors, and lecturing staff headed by a Chief Lecturer.

I was the first out of the three probationers to report to PTS. Inspector Boyagoda was there to receive me. He took me to a prefabricated house situated close to the SSM. This was to be the quarters for the three of us for some time until we were shifted to the SSM. Messrs Shanmugam and Gunawardena, the other two colleagues joined me in the prefab later in the day.

Besides the three of us, there were some 20-odd probationary sub-inspectors and 200-odd recruit constables in the batch who reported that day. They were quartered separately: the probationary sub-inspectors in the SSM and the Recruit Constables in eight different single men’s barracks attached to Police Stations.

We were also later attached to three different Police Stations. I was attached to ‘Jenkins’, Mr. Shanmugam to ‘Elara’, and Mr. Gunawardena to ‘Rajasinghe’ Police Stations. In addition, two Probationary Sub-Inspectors (P/SII) were also attached to each of the Police Stations. P/SII Seevaratnam and Wimalasena were attached to my Station, ‘Jenkins’.

We were to be addressed by the Acting Director later in the evening at assembly but this was postponed for the next day. The next day we assembled at Magul Maduwa at 0700 hours to listen to the address by the Acting Director, ASP K.D.C. Ekanayake. He was the ASP Training School and the most senior ASP attached to the Police Training School (PTS) at the time. He was acting until a permanent Director was posted to the School.

In his address, he explained the duties of a police officer, the service expected, and how we should conduct ourselves. This was later followed by another lecture by Inspector Boyagoda giving a general picture of what to be expected in the next few days. The next day we were taken round to the administration block, stores, library, and the Charge Room. We were issued the reference books, notebooks, and the Constables’ Manual.

We soon settled down to a pattern that was to be our daily routine for the next six to seven months at the Training School. It was six months of continuous, strenuous training. We had no access to the outside world during this period except for an occasional visit to places of professional interest such as the CID (Technical Branch), the JMO’s Office in Colombo, the Government Analysts’ Department, and IG’s Stores to order our uniforms and accouterments.

Apart from this, our Drill Instructor (Sub-Inspector Somapala) and the Assistant Director (ASP A.M.E. Jayasena) helped provide us with some limited social space. That was some solace in a cloistered environment.

The day started at 0630 hrs with the parade, riot drill, Physical Training (PT), or horse riding and was followed by lectures and sometimes motorcycle riding. The subjects were law, police orders and first-aid, and general knowledge. Classes were held both in the forenoon and the afternoon. In addition, we also had to be engaged in land development work, gardening, and recreational activities like tennis, rugger, cricket, and films. For 303 firing practice, the whole batch of recruits was taken to the Army Firing Range at Panagoda having booked the range well ahead of time.

From the first week itself, we had to keep a weekly diary in terms of Departmental Order (DO) E 214. They are official documents that ought to reflect a complete and comprehensive record of the daily activities of the officer concerned consisting of his comments and remarks on what he found during his duty. Usually, it is the ASPs and SPs in charge of territorial Districts and Divisions that are expected to keep these diaries.

The ASPs have to submit their diaries to the SP Division by Tuesday and by Wednesday they along with the diary of the SP should be in the hands of the DIG. It is through this diary that the SP Division and the DIG Range will know what is happening in their Divisions and Ranges. Since Weekly Diaries are official documents that could be called in evidence at any time the officers are expected to retain them for a specified period.

The weekly report was submitted through Inspector Boyagoda to ASP Training and Director Training (DT). The diaries would be read -and returned to us with comments and remarks by ASP Training and DT. I used to be very critical about many things in my comments in the weekly diaries. Several shortcomings in the facilities, methods of training, and even behavior of senior residents in the SSM who were there for the Inspector’s Course and even some of the training staff came under my critical comments.

Those who read my diaries took the comments in the correct spirit. In certain instances, they offered explanations and at times they took action to find solutions to what was pointed out and at yet other times I got a knock or two for what they apparently thought were my hasty remarks.

As early as the first week I suggested to the OIC of my station that we arrange a Vesak Carol as we did at Peradeniya University under Dr. Sarachchandra’s leadership. It was a religious cum cultural event. Enthused by this experience I thought it a good thing to start a new tradition since the training school provided the atmosphere of a University Campus. The OIC promised to consult the acting DT, Mr. Ekanayake. Later he told me that the suggestion was not received favorably.

I commented on this in my weekly diary and regretted that the suggestion was not accepted. The Acting DT promptly responded asking: “Is there a place for carol with music in the Buddhist religion?

If the ‘Seela, Samadhi, and Panna’ are the crux’ of the religion I do not think that carols have any place in it.” I was quite deflated and my ego was badly hurt. I did it with all good intentions thinking that it would add color to the drab training routine. Besides, I wanted to give the place a little bit of Sarachchandra flavour being an ardent follower of the Sarachchandra tradition.

Many years later when I heard that a dagoba was constructed in the training school under the aegis of Director Training K.D.C. Ekanayake, I thought what hypocrisy it was to have turned down my suggestion about carols reflecting on his comments about Seela, Samadhi, and Panna. However, I did not know about the correctness of his comments at that time until recently because I had no deep knowledge or understanding of Seela, Samadhi, or Panna and how irrelevant carols and music were to the issue.

Perhaps I had confused these three foundations with Sardha. Mr. Ekanayake had a point. I was just a trainee. Who was I to tell him what he should do? I was hurt because I had an inflated ego and thought I could introduce new traditions in a territory where I was a total stranger and a rookie novice. I think this episode had somewhat of a dampening effect on my assertive spirit. Yet I did not give up making those critical comments when they caught my eye.

In addition to classes, parade, horse riding (for the Probationary ASPs), etc. we also had other duties to attend to. We had to take the night Roll Call or supervise it being done by the Probationary SIs. In addition, we also had to do one night round per week. We had to check patrols and mention times and places visited during the night rounds in the diary. According to the requirement of the Departmental Order, we had to perform an early, middle, and late-night round respectively each week.

Night rounds on Saturday were not looked upon with favor as this would encourage one to get into the habit of postponing the performance of the night round till the last moment. Once I had done a night round on a Saturday and the remark of the DT was ‘avoid Saturday night rounds’. I was to face this remark several times from other officers as well during my career.

Once closer to passing out of the Training School we were exempted from night rounds on a couple of occasions. On one of these occasions we were in Colombo at the Transport Division for the Traffic Course but still attached to the PTS. The weekly diary went to the DIG Central Range in charge of the Transport Division. It came back with his remark about the exemption of the Night Rounds – ‘Should never have been allowed. The hard way at the start is the best’.

We followed classes with the Probationary SIs. Constables had their classes conducted at their respective Police Stations by the OIC and the Drill Instructors. Inspector Boyagoda was in-charge of our class. He appointed a class monitor as we started the classes. IP Boyagoda was like the proverbial village schoolmaster, stern and very strict. The only thing missing was the cane in hand. I felt like a schoolboy myself. He was so strict and relentless that everybody in the class hated him.

Perhaps he knew it but never cared or showed that he cared. I frequently came under his vigilant eye as I used to doze off often in class, particularly in the afternoon. I was tired after the riding classes in the morning. Besides, it was difficult to sit long hours on the benches in the class with injuries on my thighs and buttocks from horse riding. Further, lectures in law were technical and boring to me.

Under those circumstances, it was extremely difficult to keep my head up. So, I had to endure many a frown from him from the head of the class. However, occasionally there would be a crime playlet to liven up the `boring’ classes. I am not quite sure I enjoyed those playlets. If I had I would have commented on that in my weekly diary as I have done on many occasions on many subjects. But I cannot find any such comments in the diaries.

Sub-inspector Somapala who was in charge of our Drill and PT Squads was a very amiable and affable person. He generally had a friendly attitude towards us, the Probationery ASPs in particular, and the Probationary SIs in general. Consequently, he was liked by all in the class. He had a Morris Minor car. Whenever we wanted to visit Kalutara town on our Sundays off, he was always available and would take us in his car.

In addition to classes on law and parade we Probationers as we were called, had to learn horse riding and horsemanship and pass a test before confirmation. This was a departmental requirement set for the Probationers, a distinguishing feature of the Officer Class of those days, a relic of British Colonial Rule. Like Gazetted Officers using cars for their official travel now, in those days of British rule used a horse for their official traveling being the mode of transport at that time.

Difficult situations in the training program

As we started classes, we had no uniforms to wear. As such we were allowed to wear civilian clothes for some time until the uniforms were ready. In the second week after reporting, we were sent along with the Probationary SIs in the police bus to the IG’s Stores at Police Headquarters to collect our accouterments. The journey on the bus created some bonhomie among us as a group as we had an opportunity for informal communication.

This was an early opportunity to find out the talents of the group that we were mixing with. Quite a few showed their talent at singing and some others about their talents at mimicry and yarning. Probationary SIs Jagath Jayawardena and Henry Perera stood out among the singers. They were later to play important roles in the edited version of “Maname’, the mini-drama we organized for our passing-out concert.

Gunasena de Silva was the loudest heard in the crowd. He soon earned a name for his vociferousness amongst his friends to his discomfiture at a later date. We also joined in the singing and generally had a good time. Inspector Boyagoda came in charge of us. By nature, he was a shy character. He was a silent observer during the journey and gave us some leeway although he played an assertive role at other times at the school. We collected whatever was available in the IG’s Stores. We also collected the official issue of our weapon, a .380 revolver, and returned with the issues.

A couple of days later we went once again to Colombo, this time with Sub-Inspector Somapala, to order uniforms. Before we went, we were issued a cheque for Rs.1,000.00 each, the Uniform Allowance we were entitled to. We had to buy all our uniforms with this amount. This included two sets of shorts and shirts, two sets of longs and tunics, one set of ceremonial uniform, a mess dress, jodhpurs and breeches for horse riding, riding boots, two caps with braiding, and a raincoat.

In addition, we also had to buy our Sam Browne and the shoulder chords for the ceremonial dress. These had been earlier ordered at Army & Navy Stores and Millers, Cargills, or Apothecaries. The caps and other paraphernalia were bought from the Army & Navy Stores, a shop owned by a retired soldier named Wanigasekera who was well known to generations of probationers who went to him for their supplies.

However, to our disappointment, we found that none of these establishments undertook the orders anymore. Ultimately, we found that K.D. Jayaratne was willing to accept the order. Except for jodhpurs and breeches for which the material was not available, we ordered the rest and returned somewhat late in the evening. Sometime later we went again to Colombo for the fit-on.

On one occasion when we were visiting the JMO’s office, an interesting episode that we would recall time and later in our careers took place. Among the probationary SIs there was an officer who was boisterous in his behavior, showing off as someone who was fearless of any situation. At the JMO’s office, we were watching a post-mortem examination of a dead body crowding around the table when we suddenly heard a ‘thud’ sound as though a tree was felled. There was our ‘hero’ on the ground having fainted at the scene of the body being cut up. That was the last day of his boisterous behavior as his colleagues made fun of him over this incident at every possible turn. Since then he kept a low profile for the rest of his training period.

Perahera duty was another rare experience we raw recruits were treated to. The whole batch of recruits was deployed on special duty to perform Perahera duty in Kandy during the annual pageant. We traveled by train to Kandy and were there for the whole period of the perehera deployed on street and traffic duty.

Training in motorcycle riding was another phase of our training given at the PTS with the probationary ASPs and Sis being trained.. Initially, the training was done at the Aluvihare Grounds and after a couple of days, the whole batch was taken out on the public road through Kalutara Town up to Moratuwa and back accompanied by our drill instructors. It was a fun trip with each trainee taking a pillion rider on their motorcycles. At the end of the training, we received our motorcycle riding license after being examined by a Motorcar Examiner at the PTS itself.

Another memorable event during the training period was the term-end concert. After the final examinations were over, we had to participate in a concert and each group had to present an item. The probtionary ASPs and SIs had to present one item. After a few rounds of discussions among ourselves, I suggested that we re-enact the play `MANAME NADAGAMA’ by Dr. Sarachchandra and undertook the responsibility of organizing the play.

Having been an active member of the ‘Drama Circle’ of Peradeniya University and a student of Dr. Sarachchandra I was on familiar grounds. The idea being accepted I got on to the task immediately. Auditions were held, the cast was selected and we went into regular rehearsals. It was an all-male cast all coming from the batch of probationary ASPs and SIs. Costumes were borrowed and on the day of the concert I did the make-up. We somehow managed the musical instruments as well. Finally, the play was staged and the audience went into raptures. It was a great success and was the talking point of the PTS for a long time to come. It was said to be the first-ever quality production by a trainee batch. It was a cooperative effort that ultimately bloomed.