Reviewing Policing Practices | Daily News

Reviewing Policing Practices

Police in action-Police take down public complaints
Police in action-Police take down public complaints

Continued from August 30, 2017....

The committee appointed to study reforms to the Police has identified five key elements in reforming the Sri Lanka Police; one of them discussed yesterday was quality recruitment and strengthening of the code of ethics. The rest are as follows:

In terms of ‘Improving Transparency and Accountability’, the main demand by public was a fair and impartial police service, free from language, religious, gender, ethnicity or class bias. In the Police Survey, 96 percent of officers indicated that there was a need to improve transparency and accountability in the system. When asked what can be done, 68 percent indicated the provision of better facilities at work; 59 percent stated increasing the number of interaction programmes with the community and 57 percent stated having proper processes for promotions and transfers.

The various consultations pointed to a multi-pronged approach to accountability, which included strengthening internal oversight mechanisms, as well as external oversight mechanisms such as social audits and stronger oversight by the National Police Commission.

Strengthening Ministerial Oversight

‘Strengthening Ministerial Oversight’ required improving measures to raise public awareness of how to report a complaint against the police to the NPC. It entailed all police officers to submit asset reports to the Ministry of Justice as per procedure applied to Chief Inspectors and above.

Developing Public Oversight could be achieved by introducing social audits/community scorecards to be conducted at police station level, as well as publicising police approaches and strategies to promote transparency and public understanding.

Use technology to reduce corruption and enhance accountability.

A. Review and prioritize projects which are currently in hibernation (e.g. Spot fine through payment gateway; introducing ICT systems in police emergency cars, etc.)

B. Review the use and monitoring of CCTV in stations to determine its effectiveness before a decision is taken to expand installation of CCTV cameras in police stations in future, bearing in mind the cost/benefit.

C. Explore feasibility of the use of body camera/dashboard cams for traffic police and patrol vehicles. Amend laws to allow for automated kiosks or mobile phone payment for traffic fines. Relevant proposals are pending approval with the AG's department.

Enhance coordination with other government departments and agencies. This could be achieved by exploring coordination mechanisms or opportunities to tackle corruption with, for example, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), Excise Department.

Ensuring Respect for Human Rightswas one of the main recommendations. The police as well asthe public recognize the need to improve application of human rights standards in policing in Sri Lanka.

There is an allegation of arbitrary arrests, torture and beatings of suspects, and not producing suspects before court as violations of human rights in nearly all locations. Another issue of concern is the complaint that information of the informant/complainant is leaked to the accused.

Communities stated that this result in threats directed to the informants. The inability to record a complaint in Tamil language was also identified as a violation of fundamental rights as well as language rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The treatment of children and women was highlighted as a particular issue of concern, particularly the sexual harassment faced by women motorists, and women making complaints. It was stated that in general, police are slow to act against a domestic violence complaint, and often take too long to respond.

The OA found that human rights were not clearly understood in the policing context. None of the focus groups could satisfactorily answer policing scenarios that posed a human rights dilemma. This also concerns the way in which the Sri Lanka Police responds to public order situations.

The Policing Reforms underscore the importance of broad principles of human rights which include equality, freedom and dignity and recognize that it is important to look beyond the provisions of fundamental human rights. Therefore, the PRC highlights the importance of the SLP recognizing and taking steps to ensure that in every engagement between a member of the Sri Lanka Police and a civilian, the rights of the civilians are respected and protected, regardless of whether that civilian is a suspect, complainant, victim or witness.

Furthermore, it is imperative that the Sri Lanka Police recognize that although crime prevention is an important task of policing, it should not be performed in a manner that conflicts with the respect owed to civilians and their rights.

Ensuring Respect for Human Rights

The Commission made the following recommendations for Ensuring Respect for Human Rights:

Strengthen prevention and response to gender based violence.

A. Introduce a Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy for the Sri Lanka Police.

B. Complete a gender audit of police stations to create an enabling environment for women police officers and members of the public who visit the station.

C. Optimize deployment of existing Women Police Officers based on prioritized policing needs and functions.

D. Ensure each station has private spaces for recording statements, especially for women and children.

E. (Refer 2014 regulations, in keeping with the Policing Reforms and ensure implementation in all police stations. The regulations include separate entrance for women and children’s unit, separate interrogation room, public bathrooms, recording facilities for juvenile offenders etc.)

F. Enhance partnerships with local and national government agencies and/or NGOs working on gender base violence to provide referrals and support services to victims by

- Participation in District or Divisional Forums against gender based violence

- Linking with Women Development Officers at Divisional Level

G. Roster women officers to be on duty at stations at night to record statements and provide related services – building on the current practice of the On-Call system.

H. Analyse, develop and streamline Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and ensure facilities are in place to ensure the effective implementation of this recommendation.

Strengthen the Human Rights Division within the SLP

A. Increase recognition and resource allocation.

B. Ensure that the Human Resource Development is staffed with qualified legal professionals.

C. Appoint a senior responsible officer to ensure that Sri Lanka Police policies, procedures and behaviour are compliant with human rights standards, and consider the human rights impact of new initiatives. This could be an advisory role linked to the Human Rights Commission.

Strengthen Human Rights Training

A. Refine training on practical application of human rights in different aspects of operational policing.

B. Introduce and strengthen investigation and interrogation manuals and training for police, in line with international and domestic human rights standards.

Strengthen Public Order Management

A. Ensure specialized Public Order Management training and resources are available to the SLP that meets international human rights standards.

B. Ensure Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are developed and in place to respond to public order incidents through a human rights framework.

C. Improve coordination between various Units within the Police involved in Public Order Management.

Ensure adequate supervision and leadership – strengthen command responsibility

A. Expedite disciplinary inquiry of allegations of human rights violations.

B. Collate and learn lessons from case law, and feed this into training. Ensuring dissemination among police ranks.

C. Ensure that the performance management system has an explicit focus on past human rights records.

Establish a Police Stress Management Unit

A. Situated within the Police Medical Division, with access to a clinical psychologist.

Identify police officers experiencing severe operational or personal stress and guide them to this service.

B. For more general counselling needs for police officers and their families, seek to build partnerships with existing state service providers (trained government Counselling Officers and Counselling Assistants at District level).

Implement recommendations of the Anti-Torture Programme of the Ministry of Law and Order and Southern Development. This would require better integration and alignment of the current Anti-Torture Programme of MLOSD with the Policing Reform Action Plan.

Preventing and Controlling Crime, and Reducing Fear of Crime

Preventing and Controlling Crime, and Reducing Fear of Crimeare considered one of the mostimportant issues for the Sri Lanka Police. Community consultations highlighted that to prevent crime, police should appoint qualified personnel to positions, adhere to rules and regulations and codes of conduct such as being unbiased, refrain from corruption and bribery, and not be susceptible to political influence.

In the Police Survey, only 37 percent of police officers indicated that the police were ‘very effective’ in investigating and prosecuting crime.

When asked what measures could make the police more effective at investigating and prosecuting crime, 75 percent stated increased use of technology in investigation; 61 percent indicated working closely with the community and 42 percent indicated investigating a wider range of suspects.

The Community Police Unit; the Minor Offences Branch and the Traffic Branch were identified as units that can contribute to improving police-community relations as well as adversely affecting police-community relations. Responsiveness of police was highlighted as a primary factor contributing to public perceptions of safety, with public indicating dissatisfaction with the current response time by the SLP. Recommendations for Preventing and Controlling Crime, and Reducing Fear of Crime are given below:

Increased Police responsiveness could be achieved by:

A. Enhanced visibility through regular patrolling.

B. Identify core and non-core policing tasks (such as traffic control, dengue eradication, environmental issues) and conduct study on deployment of personnel and resources in non-core and core police duties on a day-to-day basis at police station level.

C. Increase use of technology to free police officers from non-core activities e.g. CCTV technology for traffic control.

D. Increase police responsiveness to reported crimes by ensuring access to adequate vehicles and fuel at station level.

E. Improved 119 responses in all three languages and publicize local police numbers.

F. Introduce smartphone app for increasing access to regular police services.

G. Formalize and improve coordination of criminal intelligence collection and management process in line with international policing standards. Monitoring of suspects (especially re-offending gangs) released on bail.

Ensure efficient and effective criminal investigation and prosecution processes to ensure appropriate conviction rates.

A. Review of the current criminal investigation and prosecution process on the part of the police.

B. Strengthen the Legal Division in the police.

C. Enhance the role of OICs in overseeing criminal investigations.

D. Professional lawyers (police officers) deployed at Divisional level to prosecute police cases/ recruiting professional prosecutors.

E. Investigation of (murder, rape) grave crimes to be led by OIC or OIC Crime.

Enhance the prevention of crime

A. Strengthening the research, planning and statistics functions of the police at the National and Divisional level, including deploying a crime analyst to each police Range.

B. Introduce a data driven system of collecting and analysing data of crime, incidents and trends.

C. Develop a participatory multi-stakeholder crime prevention strategy, with a specific focus on juvenile offenders and organized crime. (Linked to digitalisation of data and use of technology to identify profile of offenders.)

D. Develop partnerships with other government departments and NGOs for referral services for offenders (e.g. alcohol and drug treatment programmes).

E. Conduct studies and develop a strategy to control the circulation of illegal weapons (linked to gang violence, organized crime).

Establish a dialogue with the Ministry of Prison Reforms and Rehabilitation and Prison Department to develop a collaborative intervention programme to reduce overcrowding in prison and manage offences within prisons. This included improving coordination and dialogue/discussions on reducing remand backlogs, Review of jail time for minor offences, Increasing rehabilitation programmes to support reintegration into society (e.g. learn a trade), Addressing crime organization from within prisons – secure prisons and remove access to mobile phones, Monitor convicted criminals (eg. electronic tagging) to minimise reoffending; identify case officers to ensure proper management, Prison officials to inform local Police when suspects are released.

Increasing Public Trust and Confidence

Increasing Public Trust and Confidenceis among the main issues considered. Communityconsultations revealed that public lack confidence in the police due to the perception that the police do not act fairly, are dishonest and disrespectful. Certain groups believe that they can evade penalties for crimes by bribing police officers. In terms of police perception about their relationship with the public, only 16 percent indicated that the relationship was ‘very good’, the majority, 55 percent stated it was ‘good’.

Overall, the Community Consultation on Police Reforms suggested that Community Police Committees could help with identifying a village level plan to prevent and respond to crime; and recommended steps to formalize the Community Police Committees, stressing the importance of a clear constitution process for selection or election of office bearers, gender balance and introducing expert opinion into the Committee.

The Organizational Analysis found that community engagement is primarily via the Community Policing Committees and the Police Advisory Groups. However, the Organizational Analysis was of the opinion that this is far too large and cumbersome with nearly 15,000 such groups, with the expectation that each will hold a monthly meeting with the police. None of the Community Police Committees and Police Advisory Groups had received training or detailed advice about their role.

Recommendations to ensure Increasing Public Trust and Confidence

Enhance community policing

A. Establish a multi-stakeholder committee to review the community policing approach in Sri Lanka to develop a Community Policing Policy to embed this as the overarching approach for Sri Lanka Police.

B. Police officers to be trained in the concept of community policing as the underlining ethos of the police service that applies to all functions.

C. Review the effectiveness/impact of the recent OIC training (122 Station OICs) on community policing.

D. Review effectiveness of Community Police Committees including how representative they are of, and accountable to, communities.

E. Introduce a problem-solving approach and use this in partnership with government and non-government agencies and CPCs in the area to develop station-level community policing and crime prevention plans.

F. Review and improve mechanism to give feedback to public on progress in investigations of reported crimes and complaints.

Develop a communications strategy (Linked to the Change Management Division but not limited to Policing Reforms)

A. Ensure that public information is regularly updated on the police website and social media accounts in three languages.

B. Provide visible notices (such as existing HRC regulations) in all three languages at stations on human rights and how to make a complaint.

C. Enhance the SLP’s Annual Report as a means of accountability and publish on website. Review format of Annual Report for effective reporting of the achievements/status of implementation of the Policing Reforms.

D. Effective use of print and electronic media.

E. Review the present media and communication policy of the SLP to determine type of information that OICs can share with media. Especially considering the prevalent use of social media.

Seek to ensure a greater sense of ‘procedural justice’ in SLP interactions with the public.

A. Conduct and assess impact of training for SLP functions that interact the most with the public

(traffic, community policing, miscellaneous complaints, women and children’s desks) on ensuring respect and dignity for complainants, suspects, victims etc.

B. Conduct and assess impact of training for SLP officers on treating each other with greater respect and dignity.

Design and establish police stations that are welcoming and people-friendly.

A. Increase the use of police mobile clinics/ temporary police stations to take police services out into communities.

B. Introduce police station ‘open days’ to promote a stronger community-police relationship.

C. Establish one model police station per division every six months.

Enhance public outreach through police-public partnerships

A. Liaise with the Human Rights Commission or other third parties to raise awareness among the public on human rights.

B. Work with civil society partners to create awareness on how the public can work constructively with the police; raise awareness on community policing.

C. Establish closer collaboration with youth organisations at local level with the support of relevant national organisations like the Youth Services Council, Sports Ministry, and Universities, to develop and implement programmes to bring the police and youth closer together.


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