The scary and intimidating preponderance of robberies over the past couple of months needs to be prevented and culprits given stiff penalties. Just last week we had a brazen attack on the residence of Commissioner Biobelle Georgewill, one of the judges looking into the conduct of persons who served in the former administration. The Commissioner’s computer and back-up were carted away by the burglars. Given that the two storey residence with police security, one wonders how it all happened, especially as doors were said to have remained intact. The attack on the Nigerian Commissioner was followed in quick succession by others on John Tambi, the Presidential Adviser on Infrastructure also resident at the same NASSIT estate. Next, African Young Voices (AYV) Empire was attacked and some valuable properties carted away. In the case of the AYV, one of the burglars was apprehended by the private security man on guard. That a private security guard can catch one of the burglars while the Police at Georgewill’s residence have no clue how the robbery happened, has left a lot of eyebrows raised.
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And, the populace does a lot of finger-pointing at the Police leadership describing them as “inept” at securing lives and property. While a lot of Sierra Leoneans have lost faith in our security system, we cannot lump all police personnel into one basket and damn them as ineffective. Part of the challenge of the Police are the laws which are yet to make the police force independent of politics and politicians. One fact is that the police are recruited from among the citizens of Sierra Leone. They are our brothers, sister, fathers and mothers. So they are products of their environments. When we have isolated cases of robberies, it is almost expected; but when robberies happen in an almost coordinated form across several districts almost in the same week or months, then our security is obviously under threat. A nation like ours that is almost always cash strapped may not be able to increase security budgets because of other livelihood and social priorities. In many advanced countries a lot of money is pumped into state security and safety. Our police have lived a checkered history; the bulk of it replete with political influence and interference. The law puts the Police operations directly under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) is hired and fired by the President. Many people have called for the sacking of the current IG. Clearly, the President has not yet got enough reason to do what many people think is the obvious. Well, we sit and watch whether heads will roll after the Georgewill burglary, the problems at Njala, etc. Why people are so concerned about the constant threat to their lives is because we all want our democracy to graduate from being nascent as law and order is closely related to democracy. One can never think of having political and civil rights unless the rule of law is fully observed in the entire country with no reservations. Having said this, we need to take hindsight and know where our police have travelled from. If you have been around for some time, you will know that during the one-party dictatorship, the Police served the whims and caprices of the State actors in a rather socialist-communist fashion in replication of the countries of the Eastern Bloc. First, the Internal Security Unit (ISU) was set up. These were Cuban trained mostly former political thugs whose loyalty was to the President and him alone. Their main specialty was firing at unarmed and defenseless civilians. In the 1970s the ISUs were nicknamed I Shoot U. Later, when their name was changed to Special Security Division (SSD), again people quickly called them Siaka Stevens Devils. They carried this name until the return of democracy when the new set called Operational Support Division (OSD). These were reasonably educated and trained under Keith Biddle, the British Inspector General of Police who oversaw the transformation of the Police force during the first term of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Never mind the challenges. The Sierra Leone Police has remarkably improved in professionalism and integrity. What we need to know is that some of the foot police are working under strenuous conditions. Did I here you say that many policemen are still waiting for the supply of their four month rice supply? You might be right to opine that issues like this drive sections of our police to yield to taking bribes. Like Kriegel says in The State and The Rule of Law, “Liberty begins with the protection of life secured by law… Without the rule of law, there are no human rights. It is indeed, only in those States committed to the rule of law that liberal democracy has taken root, for a people can choose its own destiny, enjoy political liberties and civil rights, only if it is composed of free human beings.” When one looks at the ratio of our police as against the population of the country, one finds out clearly that the community efforts in policing goes a long way to make that outfit effective. The reason is simple; the criminals and cliques live among communities, which know who they are and at times abet their criminal activities and then blame the police. The armed wing of the police is the Operational Support Division (OSD) providing armed support to the general duty officers and is also responsible for riot control, VIP Protection, guarding government facilities and working with major commercial security companies in high risk areas or strategic areas such as diamond mines. It is because of perceived high risk of national security threats or armed robberies that the OSD numbers are resource high. They are yet to show justification for this given their general inability to prevent robberies that are now commonplace; even where their men are deployed. At the time IG Kith Biddle was leaving Sierra Leone, some 800 vehicles had been supplied the Police. However, there are doubts whether resources can sustain maintenance. Over the years, logistics like radios, weapons, uniforms and more vehicles have been supplied. But, there are still instances where vehicles have no fuel to run. In the immediate postwar period, there was an open policy of recruitment that did not discriminate against former soldiers or rebels. So there existed difficulty to find educated recruits who respect human rights, avoid corruption, and fight crime on Le130,000 per month and with poor accommodation. Many of the former rebels of the immediate post war period have survived the system to today. It is sometimes not unheard of that some officers engage in acts of petty corruption or act in collusion with criminals as evidenced by the ACC and the SLP perception surveys. I think to curb the spate of armed robberies and burglaries threatening our security, authorities should dig deeper into the causes and get to the root. One major issue is the order and command regime needs some human face. Senior officers should view junior ones as all being part of the links in the chain. Government should pay the Police well and equip them not to fall for the temptations of bribery and collusion with criminals. Integrity is all about exercising power. In a way, that is true to the values, purpose and duties for which that power is entrusted to or held by public entities and individual office holders. How much of this is in the police force or ministries, departments and agencies in Mama Salone? Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass… it is about learning how to dance in the rain.
10/8/19
By Beny Sam
Tuesday August 13, 2019.
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