Law Society Concerned Over Brutality Cases

The Fiji Law Society has written to Acting Commissioner of Police, Rusiate Tudravu expressing its concern at a new case of alleged Police brutality highlighted in the news media. This came at the same time as a media report that nearly 400 Police officers had faced prosecution over the past five years on a range of matters, including Police brutality and sexual assault.

The society said in a statement:

“An effective Police force is the bedrock on which peace, law and order are maintained. These things are among the greatest gifts any society can offer to its people.

“So, any public body concerned with the rule of law including the Fiji Law Society must be concerned about the effect of these allegations on public confidence in the Police force as an institution.

“Police officers are entrusted by law with special powers, for the purpose of protecting the community and enforcing our laws.

“These broad powers must be exercised with strict discipline to ensure that citizens’ legal rights are respected.

“Most importantly, if people lose confidence in the Police, or begin to fear the Police force, the Police force is deprived of its most important resource – the confidence and support of the people.

“Feedback from our members is that complaints against Police officers which are referred to the Force’s Internal Affairs division “go nowhere”, unless they have serious consequences, such as the death of a suspect and become headline news.

“If the Police are not accountable for resolution of complaints which are seen as less serious, the result, in our view, is a culture of impunity – which leads to the serious problems of which the public are becoming increasingly aware, and which are damaging to the force, for the reasons we have stated. “The society has expressed to Acting Commissioner Tudravu an interest in helping to resolve the problem and is hoping to meet him soon to discuss what it may be able to do to help.”