Monetary compensation for victims of police wrongdoing:

NPC to get wider powers

By Manjula Fernando

The National Police Commission (NPC) reconstituted in March this year to 'Police the Police', says they have received nearly 500 complaints against police officers within the past six months, with Gampaha and Kalutara districts in the Western Province accounting for the highest numbers.

The Chairman of NPC, Senaka Walgampaya a senior President's Counsel Refuting the allegation that the Commission which has no powers to hold disciplinary inquiries and effect dismissals, is similar to a toothless tiger, says the mere presence is a deterrent to wrongdoing by corrupt police officers. "A report from the NPC to the IGP will go straight to the personal file and obstruct any promotions in the service. The officers dread such blackmarks in their personal files."

The Chairman added that following a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa early last week, their powers are to be strengthened to give them more teeth as an investigating arm and facilitate compensation to victims of police wrongdoing.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: The COPE committee is liable to report to Parliament by way of an annual report which is almost simultaneously released to the media. Is there a similar procedure governing the NPC?

A: Yes, we are obliged under the constitution to report to Parliament. We are functioning for about six months now. At the end of one year we will table a report in Parliament and then it will be in the public domain.

Q: Earlier the National Police Commission had the powers to effect appointments, transfers, hold disciplinary inquiries and handle dismissals. But in the post 18th amendment phase, people allege that the NCP has become a toothless tiger. Your comments?

A: We have realised that we lack power in certain areas. The Commission has already drafted a Bill whereby we seek to get powers to compensate victims of police wrongful action or inaction and to give monetary compensation to the victims. If the Bill is enacted by Parliament, we are seeking powers to take disciplinary action against police officers.

We had a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and he directed us to constitute a committee to study this in-depth and report back to him. He directed that the committee should consist of representatives from the Attorney General's Department, the IGP, the Defence Ministry, Presidential Secretariat, the Treasury and the Public Service Commission.

We will have a meeting with them within the course of the next week. Thereafter within one month a report is to be handed over to the President. Once we finalise a Bill, it will be placed before Cabinet and thereafter it will go to the Legal Draftsman and the Attorney General for their observations and clearance and then it will be presented in Parliament.

Thereafter we can deal with the other powers given to us more effectively. The NPC plays the role of a watchdog. Whatever the wrongful acts police officers have committed we could report them to the IGP or the Public Services Commission. They can take necessary action. Our role is to 'Police' the Police.

Of the 191 complaints which we have finalised investigating, many have been settled by just a telephone call. We call up the Police hierarchy where the complaint has originated and they immediately attend to it. Many of them have been resolved through negotiations.

Very recently in the Gampaha district, a complaint was received of a bulldozer being parked by the side of a main road. It was there for more than three years. The owner had close contact with a police OIC. Residents made a complaint to the NPC. We took action and as a result the bulldozer was removed.

Another day a person called the Secretary of the NPC and said, "Sir I have been detained in the police station, without any charges. He was not arrested or put behind bars but was simply kept there. Maybe it was an attempt to take a bribe from the man.

I contacted the OIC of the police station and asked if a person by this name has been arrested by them. He said 'No sir', then after sometime the same guy rang me again and said 'sir I was released'.

The fact that the police know that somebody is watching their actions and that people have access to the Police Commission, itself is a deterrent. If we send a report to the IGP against a police officer, this report goes to his personal file and that itself is a black mark and he will not be considered for promotions after that. Hence, they don't want any blackmarks in their personal files.

Q: You are going to seek additional powers for the NPC through a draft Bill. With that in place will you get back powers to hold disciplinary inquiries and effect dismissals?

A: No. If all those powers are to be restored, a constitutional amendment is required. Under the 17th Amendment all the powers of appointments, transfers, etc were vested with the NPC. Under the 18th Amendment those powers were vested with the Public Service Commission.

What we are asking through the Bill is to make provision to compensate victims of wrongful action and wider powers to investigate-free access to any police station, access to their log books, to call for reports and summon police officers for investigations.

In addition, when we make a determination, the IGP can take disciplinary action based on our report. For the moment we cannot direct the IGP to take action. The Department initiates their own disciplinary inquiry based on the findings of a NPC investigation.

Q: What is the feedback you have got that the NPC has been a catalyst in disciplining the police department, since its reactivation in March this year?

A: We have got a lot of feedback by way of prompt action to our mere inquiries, like for instance the release of the person who was detained for no reason. If somebody complains to us that the Police is doing something illegal, or if police inaction, we make inquiries. We sought the police to release an officer on full time basis to attend to our calls.

The IGP has agreed to assign a designated person at the Police Headquarters, with whom we could communicate any time and take up the issues with relevant police stations. A lot the complaints we receive are matters we could resolve on the spot. Sometimes we don't need extensive inquiries or investigations.

Of all the complaints we have received so far, 130 are on instances of police inaction.

Q: Any complaints of a serious nature, such as police officers conniving with criminals and failing to protect the interests of ordinary citizens?

A: There are complaints of that nature but as soon as the cases goes to Courts, we cannot get involved in it. As soon as the matter becomes subjudice, we have no authority to investigate or inquire into it. There were complaints like that.

They complained that they were arrested over a private feud and police officers introduced narcotics into their person and produced them in court. As soon as they were produced in Court, the court has to decide whether it is a genuine complaint or not.

Q: What is the role played by the NPC in the North and the East. Have you strengthened your presence in the conflict affected areas?

A: We have two provincial directors in the two provinces. Earlier we felt, that our mission is not communicated well to the North and the East since the Newspapers printed in Colombo did not reach the people of these provinces.

Therefore, we issued media releases, especially to vernacular newspapers printed in the North and the East to create awareness on how people can get our help. People can get through to us over the 1919 hotline. When they get calls they immediately forward them to us.

Q: We have come across instances when a crime is committed the police say that they did not receive a complaint to initiate an inquiry, especially if it involves a politician. Can the NPC intervene in such a situation?

A: The police does not have to wait for a complaint, if a crime is committed they have to investigate immediately. As far as we are concerned the Constitution says that we have to act on complaints. So we cannot initiate things.

But sometimes we have initiated inquiries in response to newspaper reports. But in ordinary circumstances we need a complainant who would cooperate with the NPC and tell us what happened.

If there is something in the newspapers we direct our provincial directors to contact the police stations concerned and ask if the report is correct.

Sometimes they initiate inquiries based on our inquiry. If it involves a rape case where police inaction has been reported, a mere call from the NPC gets the police into action. We have received a lot of complaints from the Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Watch (AHRW).

They have given names and addresses of people allegedly being harassed by the police.

We wrote to all the people mentioned in the AHRW report. We wrote asking for their cooperation to investigate the complaints.

But except for just one person, no one has responded to our letters. We have written back to AHRW saying it is not useful if the complainants do not help us to inquire into the cases. Sometimes such complaints are made to get unnecessary publicity.

If they are scared of being exposed the complaint can be made through a third party. We have observed a pattern to receive complaints. Complaints are higher in number from educated sections of society and from densely populated areas.

The people from remote areas and the less educated are scared to stand against the police.

This may be due to the fear that if you complain against the police, the police will retaliate and the situation will get worse. But a time will come when people will get over this and will not hesitate to report wrongdoing.

Q: The NPC plays a role in enhancing public-police relations?

A: We are planning in fact to conduct seminars and draw up a program to educate the police, to get public cooperation. In fact the President has mentioned of having people's vigilance committees.

To get the involvement of prominent people in the village - school principals, Weda Mahattaya, Chief Incumbent of the temple, and the police officers in these committees . We are trying to work on that now, to allow space to resolve minor issues among the community. There is a whole spectrum of issues to be addressed when enhancing police-public relations.

One is to clear the fear inflicted by a long drawn conflict. Another is the standard maintained when recruitments were made during the height of the conflict. It was done haphazardly, the officers' job was to fight terrorism not keeping the peace. A lot of wrong people have got in as a result.

In the old days the recruitments involved the screening of the entire family history for convicts. But during the past 30 years, standards have dropped.

Q: How many complaints have you received up to date?

A: The Commission was reconstituted in March. A total of 451 complaints have been received so far out of which, 191 inquiries have been concluded. We have set up provincial offices and appointed nine directors to each of the provinces. In addition we have set up two district offices in Gampaha and Kalutara because most of the complaints are received from these areas.

Q: What action has the NPC has initiated against these complaints?

A: If we find a police officer guilty of wrongdoing in our investigations, we report the matter to the IGP and to the Public Service Commission and we leave it to them to take necessary action. At the moment the NPC is not vested with any power to take disciplinary action against Police officers.

Q: What is the criteria to recruit investigative officers to ensure they act impartially?

A: Except for the Northern Province, in Jaffna, where we recruited a retired SSP, in all other places we have got the top rung of the public service. We have appointed nine provincial directors and two district directors.They are people of the highest integrity. They are all from the public service, such as retired government agents and additional secretaries of ministries. They are all Class One or Special Class officers in the Public Service.

NPC Secretary T.M.K.B. Tennakoon was also associated with the interview.