Police Accountability The death of two Tatana men allegedly at the hands of the police is very unfortunate. We will march. We will condemn the police. We will demand resignation of the Commissioner. We will sue the state for negligence and we will demand justice. No doubt they will not be the only victims of police brutality. There will be many more. While all that is absolutely necessary to keep the police transparent and accountable in their role, there are some important issues surrounding the accountability process of the police that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency to ensure fairness in police conduct. One of them concerns police internal affairs. This is basically like the internal auditor of the department. They are part of the police but independent from it. They handle complaints against the police. As early as 2004 the former Police Minister Kimisopa produced a report to improve the work of the police. One of the recommendations was to have a Police Ombudsman. The question was whether it should be an administrative arrangement within the police department or to have a body set up by a separate piece of legislation. Its role would be to act as an independent oversight body on the work of the police. One may argue that the Ombudsman Commission currently performs this role. They do and do it admirably. But the police has grown and is complex and needs a specialised body to concentrate on it. Hence there is a need for a specialist body to perform this role. In countries like Ireland they have the Gurdia and in New Zealand the Independent Police Conduct Authority. Complaints against the police will be addressed to these bodies who are independent from the police and will investigate and make findings about whether the police used reasonable force/power to execute their functions. All findings will be reported to the Commissioner and if necessary, made public. The police will be expected to implement the recommendations. Recommendations can include the police concerned take up further training or that the victims take up civil suit for compensation. An important function of the independent body is to review the police investigation process and to recommend how it can be improved to ensure due observance of human rights in the process. Any demands on police accountability as a result of the recent allegations of police brutality should include a demand that the government provide a status report on the Kimisopa report and what plans if any it has to immediately attend to the findings of the report. Police perform an absolutely vital role in our society and anything that can be done to improve their work should be given priority. Police are now seen more as the aggressor rather than the protector and this perception needs to be changed now for the better.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 00:31:46 +0000
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