Crisis in the enforcement of Law
“Every society gets the kind
of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every society gets
the kind of law enforcement it insists on.”
- Robert F. Kennedy
In the jungle the law is that ‘the powerful preys on the less
powerful’. Human societies are said to be civilized because humans have
established laws and their enforcement to ensure that everybody has an
equal opportunity to live and carryout their trade. Thus the more
equitable a society is, the more civilized it is said to be. This is
what peace is all about; introducing and maintaining equitable laws in a
society. Humans have developed because there is peace among them and the
jungle does not develop because it has no peace.
However by nature humans, like other animals, are inherently selfish
and thinks only of its own satisfaction at the expense of all else. But
civilization demands that concessions are made for equity and
sustenance. Unless such practices are adopted human society will
degenerate to the level where powerful gets everything but live in fear
of losing power and powerless gets nothing and hence would always
contrive to capture power.
Public safety
The enforcement of laws, is equally important in a society because in
the end enforcement is the test that proves that society’s ability to
hold its own. The Police have been established as the agents organized
to maintain civil order and public safety and investigate crime. The
legislator could pronounce his good intentions in formulating laws and
the lawyers can show their brilliance in interpreting the law but
finally the Police will have to show their character in enforcing the
law. In this, the Police is unique because being the enforcers, the
society has to allow them to take the law into their hands. This is
unlike the legislator and the lawyer who could only perform their part
in formulation and interpretation.
This is why a police officer could issue you with a ticket for
‘violating the Motor Traffic Ordinance’ which you cannot successfully
contest. This is why the police officers are permitted to carry guns. It
is only they who are empowered to shoot. Of course the intention and
interpretation of law will come later but by then the damage is done!
Law and order
Thus the enforcer in enforcing the law takes the law into his hands,
and then if those hands are prejudiced, lacking in the sense of moral
judgment/integrity and most of all, not permitted to act impartially,
the rot will definitely set in, sooner or later, in such societies.
Therefore a police officer needs character and sometimes more of it than
a legislator or a lawyer. The police officer however is a part of an
institution and that institution is a part of the society. Hence we
could hardly expect the character of the police officer to permeate the
limitations of the character of the society he belongs. The policemen’s
emoluments, promotions and even his very survival depend on the powers
that govern that society and hence the policemen being no crusader,
conditions his character by the virtues and standards of that society.
Therefore in the end we end up blaming the society in general for all
that is happening around us, the killings, the robberies, the raping,
the motor accidents etc.; the general break down in law and order.
Who then heads and regulates this society? The politician, of course!
But then our society, being a democracy, who appoints the politician?
Thus at the end we are caught in a vicious cycle where we only blame one
another with no solution in sight.
Peace and prosperity
It is a fact that since independence the general public in this
country who elected their representatives have been inclined to select
people with more brawn than brains to represent them. This is a
characteristic in many countries that have been subject to centuries of
colonialism. When people lack their basic facilities and when they have
to revolt against even the new system with a sense of urgency to satisfy
those needs, it is natural that they elect ‘pana ethi minisek’ (men with
vigour) who could get them their meals, their dwellings and who could
bail them out from the law that may not appear very reasonable.
Before independence people did not have the power and hence violence
in itself is a vibrant part of power. This however is not an excuse to
indulge in violence and make way for situations to get out of hand.
Violence, when allowed to thrive, can come home to roost
indiscriminately like what has happened in Kolonnawa.
It is also a fact that since independence we have had a system of
party politics that genuflect in the face of power.
Sri Lanka has been through a state of transition during the past 60
years and the politicians have added their own agendas to exacerbate
this crisis. Loss of valuable lives is tragic and it negates the very
principles of building a nation of peace and prosperity.
Therefore this is the time politicians have to make themselves into
statesmen. Politicians think of the next election whereas statesmen
think of the next generation.
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