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| Sunday, 19 January 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Is the public wary of the Police? by ASIFF HUSSEIN The Sri Lanka Police is an old institution. Established by the British colonial rulers in the nineteenth century to safeguard their interests it has today evolved into a formidable force vested with the responsibility of detecting vice and curbing crime, all of this purportedly for the benefit of the common masses. Yet why is it that a considerable section of the general public have an aversion to the police regarding it as if it were an unfriendly, brutal and corrupt institution that has little sympathy with the helpless and downtrodden sections of society. Is this merely a hangover from colonial times or is there more to it. The most corrupt
Public perception or as some would prefer to call it misperception of the police is certainly not a good thing and only contributes to widen existing fears, prejudices and suspicions of an institution we simply cannot be without and in the process lead to a considerable amount of social instability. It was only recently that the local unit of Transparency International (Transparency International Sri Lanka) announced that a good many people interviewed by them condemned the police as the most corrupt, followed by the judiciary, health and education sectors. Transparency International local chief J.C.Weliamuna revealed that a survey carried out in 2278 households in 17 districts of seven provinces (All provinces except for the North and East) through face to face interviews using a questionnaire showed that as many as 39.2 per cent of the respondents viewed the police as corrupt.The report also found that many of the people who had interacted with the police during the past year had reported encountering corruption. However,is corruption in the police really as bad as it is commonly supposed to be ? No exception Police Spokesman SSP Rienzie Perera who serves as Director of the Bureau of Public Relations, Media Coordination and crime prevention admits that corruption exists in the police but is certainly not as bad as suggested by the TI Report. He observed that the report was based on a small sample out of which less than 40 per cent said that they felt there was corruption in the police. This cannot be taken as representing the entire country since the households selected would have been based in localities traditionally averse to the police and in such cases it is hardly surprising that they should have provided negative feedback, he observed. Perera however conceded that there have been several instances of corruption in the police. He recalled that during his tenure as Director, Investigations, Bribery Commission in which he served for about six years (1992-97) they had come across a great deal of corrupt activities indulged in by government servants, and especially the Police, Grama Sevaka Niladaris and Officers attached to court houses. He noted that on an average they had detected about 200 cases of police officers involved in bribery per year, but that the number of Grama Sevakas and legal officers so detected was also similar, making the police no exception. Police brutality As for cases of police brutality which one often comes across in the media and elsewhere, one cannot deny the fact that they do take place, admits Perera. He however noted that many such cases occur as a consequence of the pressure they face as police officers which includes traffic control, vice detection, curbing crimes, writing plaints and giving evidence, besides their guard duties. Further, police work is not confined to the usual 8 hours a day duty, but is subject to certain exigencies requiring them to be on duty for considerable periods, even to the extent where it could affect their family life. Police officers undergoing despair and frustration as a result may resort to strong-arm tactics including torture and forcible confessions from suspects, he explained. He however stressed that the police are not supposed to exert any sort of pressure or punishment on suspects to obtain confessions. Such confessions must not only be given voluntarily, but the suspects should also be informed beforehand that such testimony could go against them. Such a requirement is however not necessary if such testimony is in the form of a written statement, though here again there is always the danger that suspects could be coerced into placing their signatures. There may also be cases where suspects are afraid to request the police to let them read such statements before signing them. Perera however said that in such cases where the suspects are produced before a magistrate there is always the remedy of informing the magistrate as to what actually transpired which would be recorded by him before the verdict is delivered. Remandees could also request their lawyers to submit a petition against the action taken by the infringing police officer to an ASP, DIG or even the IGP, he said. Such complaints could also be submitted to the Special Investigations Unit(SIU), a special unit especially established to receive complaints and conduct investigations against police officers. Serve elitist interests Perera contends that there are a number of factors influencing the public perception of the police including media reporting and historical factors. He observed that since the police were originally introduced to Sri Lanka by the British to safeguard themselves and their commercial interests rather than for the good of the people of the colony, there has been a misperception coming down from colonial times and transmitted from generation to generation that the police are there solely to serve elitist interests and oppress the downtrodden and the less fortunate sections of society. Besides, there exist outdated laws introduced by the British such as the Vagrancy Ordinance and the Brothel Ordinance which require the police to arrest people on mere suspicion thus making the police even more unpopular, despite the fact that they really cannot help but enforce these laws as they are existing laws. The only recourse available would be to repeal these laws by means of legislation, he stressed. There are also sections of the populace who have had bad experiences with the police or who have read about police malpractices in the mass media. Often there is too much emphasis placed on bad police bahaviour in the media so that even children may be conditioned to perceive the police as an oppressive institution, he added. |
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