Growing Police violence and the culture of silence - EDITORIAL

From Africa to Britain to the US, from Russia to China or from India to Sri Lanka, the unlawful use of force by the Police (Police brutality) has grown into worldwide cancer. It has eaten into the body politic of most nation-states, irrespective of whether they be openly autocratic or democracies.As we’ve seen over and over again, be it in our own country, the US, China or elsewhere, many times Police kill or seriously injure people during arrests fuelled by racism and anti-minority attitudes.

In innumerable instances, Police are quick to use force in response to protests or demonstrations. Throughout 2019 and 2020, the Hong Kong Police repeatedly deployed weapons like tear gas and rubber bullets in an unlawful way against protestors.Even as this editorial piece is being written, the trial over the killing of George Floyd, an African-American who was killed by a white American Policeman during an arrest, is ongoing. 
The arresting Policeman knelt on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes despite Floyd being handcuffed, incapacitated and crying out over and over again that he was finding it difficult to breathe.The killing gave rise to the worldwide ‘Black Lives Matter movement.

The Washington Post reports, around 1,000 civilians are killed each year by law-enforcement officers in the United States. The study estimated black men are 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by Police.
In China, Police are accused of rounding up members of the Uighur community (Islamic by religion) subjecting them to various interrogations and packing them off to what is euphemistically termed ‘re-education camps.In India, hundreds of cases of Police brutality, torture and extrajudicial killings have been recorded. 

Every year, scores of Indians are killed in what activists call “fake encounters.” Activists say many more are tortured to death in Police custody. The National Campaign Against Torture -an Indian rights group based in New Delhi- claims at least 1,731 people were killed in custody last year. The majority of the victims, the report said, were the usual victims of abuse, Muslims and lower-caste Hindus.

In 2012, 27 prisoners were killed by Police Commandos at the Welikada prison. Gruesome accounts of how the killings took place were revealed at the trial, how teargas was flung into padlocked cells and how prison officials hid in horror, unable to stop the massacre, were recorded during the trial. The case was brought to trial only eight years later!

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) says 90% of their torture complaints are against the Police with hundreds of cases being reported each year. In 2015 it was 420 cases, 2016 to 450 cases and in 2017 there were 380 cases.Last month a final-year law student -Migara Gunaratne- was brutally assaulted at the Peliyagoda police station when he took food to a person in custody. 
Police mistook him for the lawyer who was representing the accused.Earlier this month video recordings showed a Traffic Policeman wrestling an accused in a traffic accident to the ground and jumping on his inert body as he lay sprawled in the street.

O Tempora, O Mores... what ails Police forces across the world?
The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the role of a Police force as an institution responsible for maintaining public order and safety, enforcing the law, and preventing, detecting, and investigating criminal activities. These functions are commonly known as policing.
The principal role of a Police is therefore to protect ordinary citizens of a country So, how come the Police forces of today have moved from the protection of citizens to injuring, maiming and even spreading death and destruction among those it sought to protect?

Several causes would appear to have combined to turn the force into what it has become today.Firstly there are the relatively new broad legal frameworks designed by governments to grant protection to Police officers from repercussions that could flow from actions undertaken in the course of ‘carrying out duties’.
In our country, the Police force has also been accused of racism when dealing with minority groups and communitiesFor decades the State of Emergency and the Prevention of Terrorism Act has provided Police with often blanket legal and political protection.

Religious and political leaders who tend to make heroes of Police officers and service personnel responsible for the commission of violence rather than visiting justice on them are equally guilty for the ongoing culture of violence. 
There is a very real danger that these actions if left uncertified, could possibly escalate/lead to counter-violence from victims who despair justice