8 February 2013
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Again the police are in the news for alleged violence that has led to death. This time the victim is C Sugumar, a man who was reportedly mentally disabled but by and large harmless.
The news reports do not look good for the police. For
one thing, the man was handcuffed, so he would effectively have been incapable
of inflicting any serious harm.
After all aren’t the police meant to be trained to
subdue people without actually killing them? So, once a person is bound,
shouldn’t it be standard procedure to restrain him without any further danger to
the person?
The fact that there was a crowd involved also raises
disturbing questions. What on earth were they doing there when the police were
already in charge of the situation, and what were the police doing allowing the
crowd to get involved in such a way (apparently they were beating the man too)?
Then of course there is the mystery of the turmeric powder.
Naturally there can be no certainty as to what
actually happened because there has been no official hearing yet, but this case
does bring to the fore the need for two important developments with regard to
the police.
Firstly, where is the independent police commission?
I see no other choice but to have one if we are to dig the police out of the
mire of public distrust they find themselves in. I am not anti
police.
I have personally been a victim of crime and of
course the first people you call are the cops. And it cannot be denied that
these men and women put themselves at risk. We need them there, but we also need to know that they can be trusted.
As it stands there is no way out of this conundrum
unless any wrong doing by the police is settled in a manner that ensures the
public there is no cover up and where the guilty party can escape. And the only
way to establish that is by having an independent body not beholden to either
the government of the day or the police to deal with complaints.
Secondly, there is a need for greater professionalism
within the police. From an outsiders perspective there seems to be a cowboy
attitude prevalent where some of the people in blue at least believe that the
ends justify the means.
We give the police a lot of power. They are armed and
they can have a direct effect on our lives unlike any other citizens. That power
must be used responsibly for when unrestrained and unprofessional behaviour is
combined with handcuffs, batons, tear gas and guns, then what we have is a
situation where people live in fear or an organisation which was meant to
protect.
What is required is a paradigm shift where crime
fighting per se is not the sole objective nor is it the measurement with which
the success of the police is measured. Instead there has to be an understanding
that in a civilised democratic country there has to be the strict adherence to
procedure; procedure which is not only designed to solve or stop crimes but at
the same time to ensure that the values of a democratic state, human rights,
fairness and justice are maintained.
For without these values, and without a police force
that understands and respects them, then just what is it that they are risking
themselves for?
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