POLICE ON TRIAL: Exercising Authority without Accountability

This number on record is small compared to the actual number of incidents taking place on the streets of Sri Lanka daily. Even with this high number of reported cases of Police violence and misconduct, one would expect the conviction rate and solving of complaints to be high as well, since there is a dedicated oversight body named the National Police Commission (NPC) that is responsible for ensuring that the Police are accountable for their acts of violence.   

However, officers are rarely prosecuted for misconduct, including the brutal use of force on citizens. In rare cases, officers found guilty are given minor disciplinary punishments or given warnings. “Police officers don’t believe that they are ever going to be held accountable for what they do on the streets,” Basil Fernando, Director for Policy and Programme, Asian Human Rights Commission, said.   

Although armed with the power of the State and empowered to use force against ordinary citizens, Police is accountable like any organization or any ordinary citizen. According to the Police Media Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa, Sri Lanka Police also does have an internal system to hear complaints against cops. In fact, internal management mechanisms if well implemented can be a powerful way of holding police officers to account. But is it enough? Has the internal system ever commanded the full confidence of the public?