Working with the force
IT seems a post-mortem examination report has ruled out the possibility that a robbery suspect’s death was linked to him jumping out of a two-storey building. On Tuesday, Acting Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu said an internal investigation would be conducted to ascertain the circumstances surrounding his death.
Anyone found responsible would be charged and produced before a court of law, he said.
The initial police report suggested Mesake Sinu died after sustaining serious injuries when he allegedly jumped from the house on Monday.
The interesting turn of events has now placed pressure on the force to quickly determine how Mr Sinu died.
Allegations have surfaced of alleged police brutality as a cause of death.
As investigations continue, there will be interest on how stakeholders respond.
Coming in the wake of attacks on police officers around the country late last year, and breaches of the curfew rules recently, special attention will no doubt be focused on this latest development.
It is encouraging to note Mr Tudravu’s commitment to this investigation.
The work of our men and women in blue isn’t for the faint-hearted.
Police officers are expected to be beyond reproach. They are expected to rise up to the challenge of their roles, to uphold law and order.
Their job can be very stressful. With a great deal of authority though, and power, comes a greater sense of responsibility.
On this month last year we wondered why youths were attacking the police.
We wondered about underlying causes.
It was a frightening turn of events.
We hoped then that our police force wasn’t losing face in public. We hoped then that it hadn’t lost touch with the community and our youths.
We still need to understand the causes, and address them though.
It certainly is a sad reflection of society when our youth go against men and women who have sworn to protect law and order.
It is also a sad reflection of the force when people lose respect for it, and allegations of brutality don’t do any good to its image.
We continue to hope these are isolated incidents and processes are in place to weed out any talk of brutality.
In this latest allegation, the force must pull out all stops, and get to the bottom of the turn of events that led to the death of a man.
As parents and guardians, we also have a duty to assist the police. We have a critical role to play in nurturing our children to be law-abiding citizens of our nation.
We must be good role models. We should be working together with the police.