J.Paul Richards in the following piece writes about "Police Mentoring For The Protection Of Human Rights". Read on to find out how human rights and police work can go hand-in-hand for the betterment of society at large.
The Challenge:
Policing continues to present one of the greatest challenges to the entrenchment of human rights in societies throughout the world. While legal systems can be changed, the fact remains that police are the ‘front line' in the justice system of any country, and the continual contact of police or security officers with community members makes the need for police safeguarding of human rights absolutely critical.
If the initial contact with the criminal justice system does not have the underlying foundation of human rights protection, the system is inherently dysfunctional and will not work. Worse, the community loses faith in the system as a whole, and the options for legal remedy for both the state and society are quickly abandoned. Police and security forces worldwide tend to be proponents of stability and safety, yet it is a paradox that they do not recognize the inherent self interest in safeguarding human rights. I propose that policing actually has a vested interest in the protection of human rights, because it is human rights, not repression, which ultimately stabilize society and ensure that all community members have a vested interest in the justice system.
Internal Cultures:
One essential problem with the preceding statement is that often the police are the only people who do not recognize it. Legions of human rights workers, lawyers, judges, politicians and community members advocate such an approach, but the police fail to recognize the contradiction. The fundamental challenge is to change police organizational culture, which is usually founded on the nature of police work.
I suggest, having been a police officer for many years, that the model we have is an exterior-interior one, and as long as the barrier between the two is maintained, the protection of human rights by police officers remains at risk. Police officers see themselves apart from the populace because they deal with the criminal element. This is even true in security forces where their raison d'etre is not to fight crime but to extinguish political opponents, such as the South African Police (SAP) prior to the end of the apartheid system. My experience investigating police and military officials for gross human rights abuses has shown me that, no matter how heinous or criminal the approach of officials is towards their work, the officials themselves usually feel that they are part of an elite group in society carrying out a difficult task. This twisted esprit de corps reveals how their commitment to the wrong kind of principles can result in direct action carried out in the name of protecting society.
Much removed from this scenario, even ordinary police officers working in countries with good human rights records have a tendency to feel apart from the rest of society. Dealing with criminals and carrying out the important work of investigating crime can make police officers feel apart, with a special role to play in society. One of the biggest challenges facing police forces committed to the principles of community policing is heavily integrating the police culture with society at large. While at either end of the spectrum, both examples show the continuation of the internalized culture of police organizations. It is one of the fundamental elements of military and para-military training and organization.
This problem can be solved by a multiple approach and can provide the framework on which strengthening of human rights in the criminal justice system is achieved.
Experience and jurisprudence development has shown us that independent civilian review and control of police tends to provide a model of service delivery which retains a good degree of accountability. Combined with human rights training for officers, this would appear to provide the necessary elements to secure a good human rights record amongst police officials. But is this enough? Countries with abysmal records in human rights try to introduce these measures, but with only marginal success.
I would suggest that both these essential elements to the human rights process are the exterior part of the model, and are continually given to rejection from within. Civilian bodies who oversee police accountability are seen as ‘outsiders' who cannot fully understand the nature of police work. Human rights trainers are equally seen as unrealistic or placed in a context outside routine police duties.
The Mentor Approach To Human Rights:
If we provide civilian oversight and training, we must provide a context in the day-to-day routine of police work. I suggest that a method for encouraging this process is mentoring. Mentoring can take many forms, but in the police model it does not differ greatly from the tradition of introducing new police officers to the street. On leaving basic training, most rookie police officers worldwide share the experience of being shown how to perform their new duties by a more experienced police officers. By carefully picking the mentors, it is hoped that the new recruits will quickly learn good habits and attitudes towards their work that they will carry with them throughout their career. Normally, after a brief probationary period, the rookie is given increasing responsibility and left to act more and more independently. This is how police officers make the transition, in very practical terms, from the theory of the classroom to the reality of the streets.
When we examine this approach in broader terms, we find that human rights similarly need to make the jump from the theoretical to the reality of everyday police work. This is achieved by providing police officers from countries with strong human rights records to work closely with stations or detachments in countries with weaker adherence to human rights principles. These officers would be placed for a period of one year in which their sole purpose was to work closely with officers and analyse the organizational strengths and weaknesses which contribute to human rights, compiling their observations into quarterly reports. Recommendations could then be made in a public forum. The observing officer could, of course, also give recommendations on site to improve the delivery of policing to the community.
Following the Second World War, the international community took a new approach to worldwide conflict by using military personnel as peacekeepers. Peacekeepers use their military skills to defuse conflict at a local level and encourage reconciliation between warring parties. I would suggest that the time has come to use the investigative skills of police personnel to internationally scrutinize the behaviour of other police officers with regards to human rights. The police mentoring approach to human rights promotes transparency, accountability, and professionalism amongst equals.
Other Benefits:
Beyond the basic benefit of improvement of human rights, such a system would also be an important bridge to encouraging policing as a profession, rather than simply a job. Professionalism tends to decrease abuses of all kinds, including corruption and incompetence. The links between professionals will also encourage long periods of friendship and personal ties between officers, further adding to the mentoring process. When policing becomes a profession and the concept of ‘service' delivery is encouraged, as opposed to repression and force, the result can only be a better approach from the inside towards the protection of rights.
Another critical element is the treatment of minorities by police due to the fact that abuses of rights and civil liberties often go hand in hand with the lack of minority power. An observing police officer, with an outsider's perspective, will view the policing of a minority differently, and the approaches to minority policing are another area which could improve from recommendations made by the observing officer.
Time and Money:
The important elements to any mentoring program are time and money. The change of organizational culture does not happen overnight, and the development of attitudes friendly towards human rights takes concentration of resources and time.
The work done in Haiti, for example, is still not complete and requires many more years of fostering a new attitude amongst police officers as well as re-shaping the expectations of the Haitian people towards their national police. Such development projects do not necessarily require the participation of international or multi-national organizations such as the United Nations. Bilateral agreements could be struck where developed nations work with developing nations to mentor their police service and encourage human rights with developmental aid funds. Such micro-level projects (with, I suggest, a comparatively low cost) act to affect real change within the organizations. Combined with training and external civilian review, the internal organizational culture of police organizations can be changed.
The Road Ahead
Breaking the internal-external model and creating an atmosphere of respect for human rights is a slow process, but the process can be quickened from within.
Ultimately, police can be forced from the outside to comply with human rights principles, but how much guarantee do we provide ourselves when organizations and individuals are forced to comply from above? A combination of accountability, training and mentoring towards organizational change creates force from without and within. Catalysts for changes towards human rights within police organizations must provide long term solutions.
Just like new police recruits, mentoring creates a powerful force to conform to new attitudes, and the direction of those attitudes depends on the will of the international community to address the need for change.
