Nationwide anger against lawless policing

"To make a real difference, some serious changes have to be made, both in the area of the constitution and on ways to correct the police as an institution. So long as the executive presidency in the present form, with absolute power devoid of checks and balances, remains, Sri Lanka can only have a bad police, as it has now."
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By Basil Fernando

(August 27, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) All weekend newspapers carried long articles on police abuses. Commentaries on recent cases - such as the alleged assault on Nipuna Ramanayake by former CCD director Vaas Gunawardene’s family, the killings of two boys at Angulana, a case of rape at a police station and many other incidents - blamed the government and the police authorities for the situation of virtual anarchy that is prevailing within the institution. The Sunday Leader’s editorial was entitled ‘Idiots at the helm of the Sri Lankan police’.

Within the three months since the end of a period of intense civil conflicts which began in 1971, the attention of the people is slowly being absorbed with problems which have existed for a long time, crippling their lives but not finding public expression over the sound of war drums. Within this brief period of peace, it is beginning to dawn on the people the wretched state of lawlessness and anarchy is affecting every aspect of their lives. Slowly a huge revolt is beginning to find expression and no ruler with any intelligence would want to ignore the public anger that is thus surfacing.

As the people are beginning to realize that what they thought of as their law enforcement agency, the policing system, is in fact a lawless agency, it is quite natural for them to realize how much danger such an agency poses to their lives and to the future. The question of how can we protect ourselves from our police is being constantly posed.

Throughout the country people are beginning to realize the folly of their own beliefs. They, with quite a shock, have begun to realize that they are no different to amputees who continue to believe that their lost limbs still exist. A large part of the anger that has begun to be expressed is not directed only towards the police. It is also directed towards themselves. How could we have been such fools as to have allowed ourselves to come to this point? This seems to be what people are wondering.

Angulana murders and similar killings

Just take the case of two boys killed at Angulana.

People know that this is not an isolated incident. Virtually tens of thousands of such cases can be found without much difficulty. Just this week at Gampaha High Court, former senior SSP Douglas Peiris and a few other police officers were found guilty and sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment for abducting two young boys with intention to kill. In fact, a few thousand of such incidents, mainly from the south, have already been documented. Unfortunately, the possibilities of documentation without facing serious risks still do not exist in the north and the east.

At Angulana police post, the officers were drunk every evening. This has been confirmed by the member of the parliament of the area, who has stated that he had received complaints to that effect. These drunken policemen were led by an equally drunken Officer in Charge (OIC). The OIC had made it a habit to collect money from the villagers by arresting some of their young boys. The people of the area, for their part, were docile and foolish enough to go and pay these bribes to get their children back, instead of rising against such exploitation.

Shocking passiveness

It is in this same fashion that the two boys were arrested. The parents have stated publicly that they also went to give money and take their boys, but they were not even shown the boys and they were asked to come back the next morning. It is shocking that these parents just went home and waited till the next morning, while knowing that their children were being mercilessly assaulted. The type of subservience to petty authorities or the fear of them speaks of sheer cowardice, or the levels of intimidation of this folk. Had the villagers walked to the police station that night, they could have saved these two boys. In many neighboring countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and nowadays even in China, villagers do go and surround police stations when such actions take place. At Angulana, it was only the news of the death of two of their boys that provoked the final protest. But then, that was too late.

People throughout the country have endured the horrible practices of their police for far too long. It is very clear that they are not going to do it for much longer. The levels of injustice and cruelty have surpassed the levels of endurance even of rather intimidated and passive people.

Inadequate responses

Though the newspapers have highlighted the situation of extreme lawlessness in the country, no one has taken the trouble to do more than appeal to the President or to the police hierarchy itself to do something. Given the enormity of the problem, such a reaction is inadequate. In 2001, the Sri Lankan parliament, being aware of the problem of police, as well as several other institutions, proposed the 17th Amendment as some sort of a solution. The Constitutional Council was appointed, which then appointed the first batch of National Police Commissioners. The present regime abandoned the implementation of the 17th Amendment. Thus, the only attempt that was made to deal, to some extent, with the crisis of the policing system by regulating its appointments, promotions, transfers and disciplinary controls, was abandoned.

What can the government do to tame a policing system that has emerged as a monster trying to devour the citizens? The first thing should be to acknowledge that this task is not going to be an easy one and mere speeches about bad policing or some bad eggs within the policing system is not going to be of any use.

A senior policeman have gone on record, stating that it is only a few policemen that have been doing some nasty things, but that the institution itself is 140 years old and that it’s very much in tact. That kind of talk only creates an illusion. The result would be to pacify people, making them assume that by taking some disciplinary action on a few policemen or having a few prosecutions, as in the case of the murder of two Angulana boys and the Ramanayake case, everything will be okay.

The constitution

To make a real difference, some serious changes have to be made, both in the area of the constitution and on ways to correct the police as an institution. So long as the executive presidency in the present form, with absolute power devoid of checks and balances, remains, Sri Lanka can only have a bad police, as it has now. The 17th Amendment failed and the police commission was abandoned because these were incompatible with the country’s constitution. The Executive Presidency prevailed and the 17th Amendment disappeared.

Some important corrective steps

Till such constitutional changes are brought about, a few steps can be taken that will, at least to some degree, address the problem of police lawlessness.

The present Inspector General, who has failed to deal with the collapse of the institution, should resign and allow a better leader to lead the institution.

The higher ranks of the policing institution from the IGP to the ASPs should be instructed to review the present situation and to come out with detailed plans of how the defects of their own supervision and monitoring of the institution could be corrected. In particular, the police regulations should be carefully studied and the failures of implementation of these regulations should be considered seriously. Without an acknowledgement of the part of the police hierarchy in the depth of the crisis affecting the institution, no action of real value can emerge.

Particularly the roles of the ASPs and the OICs should be reviewed thoroughly. It is the OICs that are responsible for the running of the police stations and without their acquiescence, the discipline within a police station cannot breakdown. It is also the OICs who often give the orders for extrajudicial killings of arrested persons and covers up the incident by making up all sorts of stories of how the killing was done as a matter of self-defense or to prevent the arrestee from escaping. It is also with the knowledge of OICs that torture within the police stations takes place. When it comes to extortion and bribery within a police station, normally the biggest beneficiary is also the OIC.

The OICs can do these things only because the ASPs are failing in their supervisory function. The police regulations require that the ASPs look into all the documents maintained by the police in the police stations under their charge. He is also expected to inspect police cells and also to inquire into all the complaints made against any of the police officers. Naturally he is the first superior officer who gets to know what the people are complaining about a particular police station. If he acts as he should and does not help the OIC and others to cover up the incident, the errant officers can be dealt with quickly and efficiently. If a police station has acquired a bad name – in fact every police station in the country has acquired a bad name – it is the ASPs that are most responsible. Thus, special measures to ensure that the OICs and the ASPs do their duties and protect law and order, is essential.

As inquiries into police crimes or indiscipline are not likely to be conducted impartially by local superiors, it is essential that his function be handed over to Special Inquiry Units (SIUs) of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID). In the long run, the establishment of separate branches within the police with competent officers and adequate mandate and resources to investigate complaints against the police is an unavoidable requirement.

The role of the judiciary in strictly enforcing the criminal procedure relating to enquiries and taking proper action against the police abusers is also an important requirement to ensure that the police behave within the parameters of the law. A commission appointed by the Ministry of Justice, while making a report in 2004, observed that one of the main reasons for delay in courts is the failure of police officers to attend court. Clearly, the relationship between the courts and the police has deteriorated. It is both for the judiciary and the hierarchy of the police to look into this matter and to take appropriate measures to end this scandalous situation.

The present Commission against Bribery and Corruption is an institution blatantly inadequate to deal with the corruption in the country, and in particular that of the police. Besides its legal limitations, it is severely underfunded. To be an institution that is capable of conducting inquiries impartially, the commission should have its own investigators and should not employ investigators who are borrowed from the police. All credible anti-corruption agencies have their own staff and their own ways of monitoring the work of their own staff.

These are only a few suggestions. In fact, the public should be asked to make observations and make suggestions or recommendations. In fact, all media should provide opportunities to air their opinions on this most important issue.

-Sri Lanka Guardian