The brutality of British police
Prof Rajiva WIJESINHA MP
I have often been critical of the Sri Lankan police, so much so that,
when I was Secretary to the Ministry of Human Rights and chaired a
committee to make suggestions as to police reform, senior police
officers would accuse me of being biased about the army. Certainly I
made no bones about the fact that I felt the human rights record of the
forces was generally admirable, whereas I could not say the same about
the police.
The senior officers who served on the committee however explained to
me that one of the reasons for this was the enormous demands made in
recent years on the police, without adequate resources being made
available. They too felt that the service they had been proud to join
had declined over the years, not through its own fault but because of
pressures that had mounted, for political as well as social reasons.
Professional training
They talked of the professional training they had received, the
various courses they had followed that had honed their skills, and the
systems that had been in place to ensure merit based career development.
As a simple example of what they had suffered, they noted that the
training period for Sub-Inspectors, the rank at which officers joined,
had been ruthlessly cut, and was down to just a few months.
Contrariwise, even in the midst of the war, the training period for
officer cadets had been increased from two to two and a half years.
The arguments of these senior police officers were convincing and I
could understand why they insisted that it was not only human rights
training policemen needed, not only language training - both of which
those of us from outside the system had stressed - but also professional
training, in investigation, in interrogation and in prosecution. After
all a young policeman faced with criminal activity who cannot
investigate systematically and interrogate incisively will take easy if
improper options. This is a universal phenomenon, and the only answer is
better training as well as greater accountability.
Still, while understanding the reasons for abuses that had occurred,
and providing appropriate remedies, we also had to accept that we should
have done better in stopping them. Though statistics indicated that more
inquiries and disciplinary procedures had been initiated than I had
assumed, actual convictions were few. And it seemed to me that there
were far too many instances in which investigations were still
proceeding, with little sign of a conclusion.
I should add that the police officers with whom we worked, in
particular those in authority at the Police Training School at
Katukurunda, were universally positive about the actions that were
needed, and we did indeed initiate some action, most notably a trainer
training programme which involved role plays and simulations rather than
the lectures that clearly would serve little purpose. But with the
election season setting in, and the abolition of a dedicated Ministry,
things slowed down. They did not however stop altogether, for recently I
was told that the idea of a Police Academcy, which I had long pushed on
the lines of the Sri Lanka Military Academy that has produced such
efficient and rounded army officers, may soon become a reality.
Sanctimonious pronouncements
Of course I am aware that there are problems with the police in any
country, and that some of the more sanctimonious pronouncements we hear
from officials of other countries are just gobbledegook. I remember a US
team being slightly startled when I drew parallels between allegations
of police brutality in Sri Lanka and what had happened to Rodney King in
Los Angeles, a black man beaten up by white policemen. One bright young
spark chirped up that the policemen involved had been prosecuted, but
did not argue further when I noted that they had been acquitted despite
the clear visual evidence of what they had done.
Still, I was of the view that, even if there were no conceptual
differences, we were substantially worse than some of the countries that
preached at us as far as the police were concerned - while being much
better as far as the other forces are concerned, as is clear from the
much greater care we took with regard to civilians than others engaged
in wars against terror.
I was therefore quite startled to be sent, by a former Human Rights
Consultant, an extract from an article in the Guardian that highlighted
a reason for resentment against the police, in the context of the recent
riots in Britain. It said that 'One journalist wrote that he was
surprised how many people in Tottenham knew of and were critical of the
IPCC (the Independent Police Complaints Commission), but there should be
nothing surprising about this. When you look at the figures for deaths
in police custody (at least 333 since 1998 and not a single conviction
of any police officer for any of them), then the IPCC and the courts are
seen by many, quite reasonably, to be protecting the police rather than
the people.' (There is a context to London's riots that can't be ignored
by Nina Power
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/08/context-london-riots)
I know better now than to believe everything I read in the Guardian,
so it is possible that these figures are as preposterous as those Gethin
Chamberlain made up with regard
to women with throats cut near Manik Farm. The figure he cited was
eleven, which was not an exaggeration, it was simply conjured up out of
nothing. But, assuming that the Guardian would be more circumspect about
an obvious falsehood affecting a British institution, which they would
not dare to treat with the contempt they evinced for Sri Lankans, the
chances are that there were indeed over 300 deaths in police custody
over the last 12 years.
This is something to regret. But also regrettable is the appalling
hypocrisy that permits British officials to attack us for what the
British have made a regular practice. One knew about the enormity of
abuse in India, and what happened here with the appalling Dowbiggin. But
I had really thought the situation had improved in Britain, with greater
accountability. To read that there was not a single conviction of any
police officer for any death in custody is deeply upsetting. |