The media has reported a speech made by the new Minister of Justice Wijedasa Rajapaksa wherein the Minister has stated that everything will be done to curb the increase in crime including, if necessary, the re-imposition of the death sentence. While welcoming the Minister’s announcement that all measures will be taken to curb crime, the Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to state that re-imposition of the death sentence is not one of the options open for achieving this objective. The new Minister of Justice should carefully study the problem associated with the failure to curb crime before making hasty statements about the re-imposition of the death sentence.
Any serious study about the problem of crime in Sri Lanka would easily identify many of the causes that have led to the failure to deal with crime. Firstly, consider the failure of the police to speedily and effectively investigate crime and to identify the culprits who should be brought before the courts. Next, even where, as witnessed in few past instances, the culprits have been brought before the courts, the courts have proved to be too slow and ineffective in dealing with the criminals and, as a result, the criminals have learned to exploit the weaknesses of the justice system for their own advantage. The resultant loss of faith in the criminal justice process has also, in turn, contributed to the increase of crimes, in that public apathy in the face of serious crimes always acts to the advantage of criminals. Furthermore, political interferences, particularly during the last government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, often resulted in protecting criminals, so that the police officers were discouraged from pursuing criminals without fear of consequence.
The Minister of Justice should be aware of the many complex factors that have led to the degeneration of the protective mechanism against crime in Sri Lanka. The Asian Human Rights Commission would like to reiterate a few of the suggestions it has been making over the years to help address the problem of crime in Sri Lanka:
Immediate measures
As an immediate measure, the Minister of Justice should call on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to take immediate steps to ensure that the Assistant Superintendents of the Police (ASPs) do their duties relating to the supervision of the activities of the police stations under their charge, in the manner required by the Police Department Code. This Code prescribes in great detail the actions that should be taken by the ASPs to ensure supervision over the work of the police stations. One of the sad results of all the political interferences during the previous decades is degeneration in the quality of supervision by the ASPs over the police stations. There have been serious allegations of corruption at the ASP level. The unscrupulous Officers in Charge (OICs) and other police officers arrange bribes and other forms of illegal favours for ASPs, and unfortunately the ASPs in many instances have fallen into this trap. The Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs), other senior officers, and other high-ranking officers such as Deputy Inspector Generals of the Police (DIGs), have failed in their command responsibility to ensure that only upright officers are chosen for the positions of ASPs and that, once appointed, their work is monitored by the superior officers. The Asian Human Rights Commission, after many years of observing the manner in which police work at police stations, which have become dysfunctional, has arrived at the understanding that genuine measures could be taken by the IGP, with the cooperation of high-ranking deputies, to re-impose command responsibility within the institution. Particularly, taking effective control of the work of the ASPs in relation to the manner in which these ASPs perform their supervisory functions over the police stations could make a significant difference in the capacity of the Sri Lankan police to control crime. While making this recommendation the Asian Human Rights Commission is also aware that – given the depth of the corruption that has infiltrated into the system of policing due to the political factors which came about as a result of the dysfunctional state of public institutions under the 1978 Constitution – this task of imposing discipline on the ASPs will not be an easy task. However, as the Minister of Justice has promised to take all possible measures to curb crime, he must exercise his authority to ensure effective action on the part of the IGPs and other high-ranking officers in order to take control of the work of all police stations through the effective supervision of the ASPs over these police stations.
Another immediate measure should be to improve the capacity of the officers in charge of police stations, and other senior officers at the police station level, such as Crime Officers in Charge (OICs), by way of crash courses and other such methods, to quickly improve and upgrade their capacities for investigations. It is an unfortunate fact that the quality of investigations is not at the required levels, and this lack of capacity has become an encouragement for criminals. As the criminals have become more sophisticated, and improved communication facilities have resulted in more sophisticated types of criminality, the task of crime control has become much more difficult than it was a few decades ago. The quality of officers at the police station level has not improved; it has degenerated, mostly due to political factors. The Minister must seek necessary advice on ways to deal with the issue of providing some immediate assistance to officers at local police stations to improve their capacities.
A further measure requiring urgent action is the provision of basic equipment such as telephone facilities, vehicles, and other technical equipment that the police needs to attend to complaints of crime quickly. Sometimes rather scandalous reports about the lack of equipment is publicized, for instance with police officers requesting complainants to provide transport or to provide for petrol for police transport in order that the police may provide the assistance sought. With police infrastructure being in such a pathetic state, not much can be expected by way of effective police intervention.
Yet another immediate measure needed is the computerization of all recordings of complaints to prevent unscrupulous acts of interfering with evidence, something that is often the cause for the failure of otherwise successful litigation. There are constant complaints by victims of crime about all kinds of obstacles created to prevent them from making their complaints, or that complaints are distorted, either willfully or due to neglect of police officers. This can easily be overcome by the computerization of the process of recording and maintaining statements and making such statements quickly available to high-ranking officers, such as ASPs and others, so as to make their supervisory work easier and more effective. In modern circumstances providing these facilities and training officers to use these facilities is not a difficult task. In fact, in almost all other government departments and in the private sector, computerization has become a normal part of administration. Only at police stations there still exists the most primitive methods of statement taking and record-keeping.
The Minister of Justice should take a firm position to discourage officers from believing in the use of torture as the mode by which they will collect information, later to be used as evidence. This blind belief has retarded the intelligence of police officers, while, at the same time, turned many of them into brutes rather than officers with intelligence who are able to deal with one of the society’s great problems: crime. Torture and death sentence are not solutions to crime and this has been proved by the very failure to curb crime despite widespread use of torture in Sri Lankan police stations.
Interim measures
The Minister of Justice should seek the approval of the government for the allocation of funds for the improvement of the police investigating capacity and other aspects of policing in Sri Lanka. The budget allocated for policing in Sri Lanka is wholly inadequate. As a result, there is a large body of untrained officers on one hand while on the other the numbers of trained officers capable of investigating crime are so few. The Minister of Justice should study these matters and exercise his influence in order to convince the government of the need to considerably increase the budgetary allocations for the police department. Poorly paid officers will often resort to taking bribes. And, criminals will always be very intelligent about exploiting this weakness of police officers. The more powerful the criminal the greater their capacity to provide substantial bribes to police officers, including high-ranking officers. As long as this avenue is open, many of the most serious crimes will not witness effective investigations or prosecutions.
The Minister of Justice should seriously study how delays in the judicial process have become an encouragement to criminals. This complex problem needs to be addressed if the judicial process is to contribute to the effective control of crime.
Long-term measures
There are two factors that will finally determine the capacity of the Sri Lankan State to effectively deal with crime. These two factors are: radical change in the Commission against Bribery and Corruption and the seriousness and determination of the government in addressing the problem of crime, as reflected in the statements made by its Ministers.
As far as the Commission against Bribery and Corruption goes, the system that prevails is not conducive to creating discipline in either the public or the private sector, when the need of the day is to bring discipline in both sectors. In countries where effective systems for the elimination of corruption have been established, one of the institutions that has transformed as a result is the policing system. There is no other way to have an effective policing system than to have a corruption control system that is able to effectively eliminate bribery and corruption. It is this matter that the government as a whole should address if it is serious in talking about good governance. The Minister of Justice should, together with other Cabinet colleagues, the Prime Minister, and the President, start serious working on this. Perhaps it is the task of the Minister of Justice to provide serious reflection and suggestions how his government can address this.
The other long-term factor that will determine how successful the government will be in addressing crime is whether the government has comprehended the seriousness of the problem and whether the statements of Ministers and representatives of the government reflect the necessary seriousness and determination. It follows that if the new government is serious, all frivolous talk on this matter should cease. Talking about the re-imposition of death sentences reflects a frivolous state of mind and not a serious frame of mind that has studied the matter and is determined to take the steps that will help in achieving the objective: effective intervention to bring criminals to justice.
