It’s funny. Never in my wildest thoughts and dreams did I everthink I would be an Australian Federal Police officer in Sri Lanka. Yet here Iam!
In the early 1990s, I was born in Sydney, Australia. My parents had immigrated from Sri Lanka to Australia in the late 1980s during the Sri Lankan civil war. They didn’t know many people and didn’t have very much money.There I grew up as a little girl in two cultures – Australian and Sri Lankan.For many years I actually was not the biggest fan of my Sri Lankan heritage as it just never made sense to me, it was foreign! I begrudgingly went to Singhalese school every Sunday morning for many years, participated in singing, dancing and Sri Lankan cultural events in Sydney, associated with family friends who were Sri Lankan and all my mum would make at home would be rice and curry. We would visit family and friends in Sri Lanka over the years and I always missed the comforts of Vegemite and air conditioning (clearly, I was very spoilt andAussie!)
When I was 7 years old, the local police attended my primary school. They had parked the police car in the school ground and all the kid could get in the front seat, turn the red and blue lights on and wear a police hat. I sat in the front seat of the police car with the sounds of the siren blasting my ears and the lights flashing before me as well as the police telling me stories of what they did for work, helping people. It was that moment, one I forever could not shake – that I decided I wanted to be a police officer. I wanted to be someone helping my community.
So – I made it my mission. Went through school, went to university and studied a bachelor degree and masters degree in Criminology, worked in juvenile detention and adult corrective service and eventually began working for theAustralian Federal Police (AFP). It was not a traditional occupation for a first-generationSri Lankan child to go into policing, and certainly not for a young girl.However, I always knew that is what I wanted to do and despite set backs with injuries, taboo and timings, I kept pursuing it. I had never met a femaleAustralian-Sri Lankan female police officer, and I was keen to make my mark.
The AFP is an organisation full of possibilities, dedicated to protecting and serving Australians and many other countries through their outreach in over 33 countries around the world. It was always my dream to eventually work in the International Network. I have always had a strong passion for community and helping victims and this is reflected in my experience so far in the police having worked in General Duties, Community Policing,Child Protection Operations and Human Trafficking. I always wondered; how couldI take this to a bigger stage!? I applied for the opportunity to work internationally, and was successful in obtaining a position in Sri Lanka for 1 year to work as aLiaison Officer in Colombo – and here I am 3 months in and loving it!
It has only been as I have gotten older that I have come to appreciate having two countries and cultures I belong to and identify with.What a privilege it is have an understanding of both cultures, to speak the languages and to have an overwhelming love of cricket and the sea! Sri Lanka is such a wonderful country, rich in culture, history, destinations, amazing food and people. So being here in Sri Lanka, as an Australia-Sri Lankan Police officer with the AFP, working at the Australian High Commission and liaising regularly with Sri Lanka Police and other agencies is a real honour. I am forever grateful that my parents pursued showing me my Sri Lankan heritage, allowing me the opportunity to understand my mother country and, let’s be real- to develop my spice tolerance! Being in Sri Lanka is both a professional and a personal adventure for me and I am relishing this like you wouldn’t believe!The ultimate blend of my career and culture and I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity and to have such a beautiful connection to Australia and SriLanka.
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