Integrity and accountability in the Police

Human rights advocate, Attorney-at-Law J.C. Weliamuna delivered the keynote address at the launch of Tassie Seneviratne’s ‘Human Rights and Policing’ held last week. Following is the text of his address:

I consider it an honour and privilege to have been invited to give the keynote address at the launch of Mr. Tassie Seneviratne’s book, one which has revealed not only his own experiences but also shown how the Department of Police worked in the good old days.

I must begin by saying that I had the good fortune of associating Mr. Tassie Seneviratne for almost a decade and I always appreciated his good advice on law enforcement accountability, which has always remained a ‘current topic’. I am sure you will understand the unreasonableness in dealing with this topic in just 10 to 15 minutes, but also the reasonableness in not holding you for more than 10 minutes to listen to any speech.

All countries need the Police

Throughout the world, the conduct of the Police has been a matter of concern but there are no countries without a police. All countries need the Police. Probably the only exception, as William S. Boroughs says, “A functioning Police state needs no Police.”

We cannot imagine a state which does not have a police or where police is totally ineffective. In fact, there is a famous quotation from Chester Gould simply demonstrating what consequences it would lead to: “I decided that if the Police couldn’t catch the gangsters, I’d create a fellow who could.” I am sure you will realise the underlying message in that quotation. We would have avoided most of our problems, if the rule of law was protected and the Police was left free to act according to the law.

Mr. Tassie Seneviratne’s memoirs throw light on his personal experience both on how police protected integrity and on how integrity of the police was ruined and restored. I wish to share with you a couple of striking examples from the book.

Political interference

Firstly, when he stood his ground and advised the powerful Head of State, Mr. J.R. Jayewardene (newly-elected Prime Minister in 1977) when he accompanied the then IGP Stanley Senanayaka. When the Prime Minister wanted to know whether political interference was less under the new Government, the IGP wanted to please him and answered in the affirmative.

However, Mr. Seneviratne had bluntly intervened and disassociated himself and brought to the notice of the Prime Minister various instances of Police interference, such as politically-motivated transfers. This would have certainly helped the Government to address at least some of the issues, which the Prime Minister would not have been otherwise informed about.

This country would have been lucky if there were many others who appraised the political leadership truthfully and properly, so that many violations would have been avoided and the country would not have faced unnecessary external challenges.

The failed coup in 1962

Secondly, he discusses how the Police was involved in the failed coup in 1962 and the role of Sydney de Zoysa. According to Mr. Seneviratne, the attempted coup d’état to overthrow the democratically-elected government in which senior Police officers were involved, was the lowest level to which discipline in the Police had descended to.

However, to the eternal credit of the rank and file of the Police, they rallied around the lawfully-elected Government to bring the culprits to book and establish rule of law. The brain behind the coup, de Zoysa, when he appeared before an interview board to join the Police, it had been commented that he would be an asset if he joined the Police, but may end up behind bars if he remained outside. Probably this can be said about many other Police officers.

Professionalism

No one here would disagree with me that professional policing begins with the recruitment of good and talented people to the Police. In 1920, Calvin Coolidge, former Governor of Massachusetts, said: “The duties which a Police officer owes to the state are of a most exacting nature. No one is compelled to choose the profession of a Police officer, but having chosen it, everyone is obliged to live up to the standard of its requirements. To join in that high enterprise means the surrender of much individual freedom.”

Professionalism requires dedication from top to bottom in the Police; it also requires the political arm of a state to respect institutional autonomy – here in this case the Police Department. Being independent or autonomous does not mean that Police is not accountable.

These two examples I drew from Tassie’s book clearly demonstrate the need to have a Police with integrity and accountability and that Sri Lanka Police have, in many instances, protected its integrity.

Police, in my view, is the strongest arm of the State to maintain law and order. If those who are responsible for the administration of the Police see to it that the political administration is properly advised, then we will be poised to move forward towards a just society.

If, on the other hand, the Police leadership merely wants to please the political leadership, then both the Police and political leadership will be in trouble and the rule of law will be the first victim. In this context, the world over the criminologists, academics and sociologists have demanded high accountability from Police.

Police accountability

What is Police accountability? This topic has been a subject of research and study the world over. There are many definitions of this term. It is suffice to understand Police accountability to involve holding both individual Police officers as well as law enforcement agencies responsible for effectively delivering basic services of crime control and maintaining order, while treating individuals fairly and within the bounds of law.

Police are expected to uphold laws regarding due process, search and seizure, arrests, discrimination, as well as other laws relating to equal employment, sexual harassment, etc. In a democratic society, the political process and elected officials serve to keep the Police accountable and that they reflect the “will of the people”. In turn, holding the Police accountable is important for maintaining the public’s “faith in the system”.

Human rights

Human rights and Police are not necessarily rivals in as much as, in a democracy, government and human rights are synonymous. Like any other authority, Police also enjoys power and discretion. In that context, we must remind ourselves of the Constitutional principle that no power is absolute. Law develops in response to situations.

The experience of the world shows that, at the end of the day, Police excesses such as torture does not help either the Police or the public. Mary Frances Berry has said: “When you have Police officers who abuse citizens, you erode public confidence in law enforcement. That makes the job of good Police officers unsafe.”

Controlling Police brutality is considered as one of the duties of the Police. By no means should there be a parallel authority to exercise Police powers. What this means is that the Police powers should be exercised within its lawful limitations and these limitations are generally found in the human rights instruments and Bill of Rights apart from the Police orders and manuals.

There can be difference of opinion among police officers on whether human rights undermines Police efficiency, but the credible studies show that protection of human rights not only helps efficient overall policing but also takes the Police closer to the people, to whom finally everyone is accountable.

In almost all the countries, there is a Human Rights Division in the Police – in some countries it is just ornamental and in some others it means business. It is high time that we in Sri Lanka move towards having an effective (not ornamental) and genuine human rights arm in the Police.

Let us not forget that the law enforcement is not limited to the work of the police; it involves a court system, attorney general, legal professionals and many others. However, of all, it is the Police that play the most pivotal role in investigation, though the integrity of all other institutions is indeed equally important.

Corruption

No organisation or institution is free from corruption. Governments, political parties, religious institutions, media organisations, academic institutions, private companies, non-governmental organisations, Police and even families are all vulnerable to corruption.

I have had the opportunity of associating Mr. Seneviratne in a challenging endeavour to study Police integrity and corruption in the Police – the first-ever such study in Sri Lanka. It was a project initially led by Mr. Seneviratne under Transparency International Sri Lanka, when I was its Executive Director. Our findings pointed out many areas for improvement. The then IGP, in fact, implemented many of the valuable suggestions made in the draft report.

Many years after the report was issued, we were summoned before the Parliamentary Committee on NGOs for an inquiry relating to a petition submitted by a journalist. To our amazement, two issues were raised by the Parliamentary Select Committee chaired by a JVP Member of Parliament, but only one is relevant on this occasion.

The issue that I want to focus here is the first question raised by the Committee. “Under whose authority did the TISL investigate into the Police?” we were asked. Anyone in the modern world who understands democracy and good governance knows that the Police is run on public finance and that the Police does not belong to the Police but to the public. Hence the public has a right to scrutinise or study the Police. Everyone is a stakeholder of the institution of Police. That was precisely our answer to the Parliamentary Committee.

A public institution

The message I want to leave in concluding my speech is that the Police is a public institution which needs to be studied more and more to be more efficient. Such studies can be done by the Police itself but one cannot undermine the importance of external reviews or studies by private individuals and organisations. For anyone studying the Police, Mr. Tassie Seneviratne’s book will be an invaluable source.

I cannot help agreeing with Robert Kennedy who often said: “Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.” If we, as a nation, insist on a disciplined, professional and rights protecting Police, then, in my view, we will surely get it.

Let me congratulate Mr. Seneviratne for his excellent work and also thank him for sharing his own experience in the Police, which is so close to our hearts.