Perhaps the most astonishing thing to emerge from the Annual Report of the Police Complaints Authority for 2023 which was made public recently, was that after interviews had been conducted with over 300 police officers from senior superintendent to rural constable none demonstrated substantial knowledge of critical laws or the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. It must be asked how it is that the members of a body charged with enforcing the law do not have a comprehensive grasp of the details of that law?
But that was not all. Chairman of the Authority Justice (rtd) William Ramlal, also said there was a significant gap on the part of the officers interviewed in their understanding of the Standing Orders of the Force. It is suggestive of an organisation which is not as rule-bound as it should be. “Without a proper grasp of these laws, police investigations are flawed and can lead to serious legal repercussions for the state,” the PCA Chairman stated. He laid stress on the need for training at all levels in order to preclude violations of citizens’ rights.
The GPF did not allow that finding to go unremarked, and it responded by questioning the validity of one of the contentions in particular, namely, that 95% of the officers surveyed were not aware of their powers of arrest. It questioned the lack of information accompanying this, in particular the sample size and context. What was meant by the latter is not clear, but the sample size – 300 officers – was provided in the report. The statement went on to stress the fact that the Force was committed to upgrading officers’ understanding of their legal responsibilities through training and workshops. While that might be so, clearly a great deal more work in this area remains to be done.
If members of the Force had an imperfect grasp of the legal context in which they operated and the Standing Orders which applied, one would have expected the most senior officer in the GPF to be punctilious about observing the law. It transpires that he too had a casual approach to some of its aspects.
The report alluded to four cases of fatal police shootings that had been referred to the Authority for investigation. However, Justice Ramlal could not discharge his duties under the Police Complaints Authority Act because he did not supervise the investigations. In fact, the relevant files were not forwarded to him, and the investigations were done without the legally required oversight, with the police, he said, in effect acting as judge and jury in their own cases. “These matters were all investigated by the police in flagrant violation of the law,” Justice Ramlal wrote, going on to say that it was essential that President Irfaan Ali made clear to the Commissioner (ag) that such transgressions should not continue.
En passant it might be noted that President Ali has to date evinced no disposition to censure Mr Hicken about anything, and to the contrary has indicated his intention to appoint him substantively to the post of Police Commissioner.
But it did not end there. Justice Ramlal reported that several officers facing criminal charges were still on active duty contrary to Standing Orders. In addition, none of the 17 officers against whom disciplinary action had been recommended had been brought before the Police Discipline Authority. In addition, Acting Commissioner Hicken had omitted to consult the Authority with respect to misconduct charges and disciplinary penalties as was required under the Police Complaints Act. This, said Justice Ramlal, undermined the authority of the PCA and the rule of law. We reported last week that Mr Hicken had not yet responded to these comments.
It might be observed that if the Police Force suffers from a culture of impunity, as might seem to be the case, that is a problem which starts at the top. If the most senior officer in the Force is not scrupulous about observing the law, then those lower down the hierarchy will follow suit.
One disturbing trend noted in the report was that of officers reportedly settling criminal matters with complainants. Perhaps indicative of an unsettling approach the GPF statement said that if an officer settled a matter with a complainant outside criminal proceedings, disciplinary charges might not be pursued owing to lack of evidence. This policy was intended to ensure fairness and due process within the Force, said the statement.
On the contrary it does anything but. There is no mention here about the ethical issue involved or lack of accountability. And ‘settling a matter with a complainant’ could potentially involve bribery, a problem which has haunted the Force for many decades and has undermined its integrity. This has particularly been associated with Traffic ranks, although it was put in the format of them misusing their powers. For its part the GPF said again that it had a policy of not detaining individuals for traffic offences where imprisonment was not the possible outcome.
In terms of the general temperature of public relations with the Police Force, the only objective evidence is the number of complaints lodged against the latter. In 2023 the totals were 194, with 53 rejected and 22 investigations pending. The response of the GPF was to say that the numbers did not adequately reflect the overall performance of its officers, since these represented a small fraction of the thousands of cases handled that year. We reported that in 2022 there had also been 194 complaints, with 220 in 2021 and 237 in 2022. The numbers, therefore, are fairly stable.
That said, from Justice Ramlal’s report there are still serious ethical, accountability and training problems to be confronted in the GPF, and a firm stance taken against officers covering for their own. The Police Complaints Authority is intended to address the latter issue, but before it can do so it has to be allowed to function as the law intended. That matter lies directly at acting Comissioner Hicken’s door.