Human rights in police investigations

Human Rights in Police Investigations

Legitimate purposes of police investigation Best practices in police investigation International standards of human rights protection Defining torture and CITs with accompanying case

studies Practical implications of ignoring international

standards How human rights violations can be addressed by

police forces

Presentation Outline

Legitimate Aims of Police Investigation

Detection of Crime Gathering Evidence Recovery and preservation of evidence Identification of witnesses Interviewing witnesses

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• Discovery of cause, manner, location and time of a crime

• Identification of perpetrator of crime• Apprehension of perpetrator• Presentation of evidence before a court

for trial

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Best Practices in Police Investigation

Lawful purposeful action Presumption of Innocence Respect for confidentiality Right to silence Forensic recovery Chain of custody Building a comprehensive case Right to a fair trial Disclosure of exculpatory evidence

Best Practices

Keeping an Open Mind

“Tunnel vision is insidious. It can affect an officer or, indeed, anyone involved in the administration of justice with sometimes tragic results… Anyone, police officer, counsel or judge can become infected by this virus.”

International Standards of Human Rights Protection During

Police Investigations

In the process of police investigations, interviewing of witnesses, victims and suspects, personal searches, searches of vehicles and premises and in the interception of correspondences and communications, there are standards laid down in different international legal instruments that we are obliged to observe. These instruments include the UDHR, the ICCPR, the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and in other instruments as we shall see along.

Introduction

These standards include: Everyone has the right to security of Persons (Article 3

UDHR and Article 9(1) of ICCPR) Every one has a right to a fair trial (Art. Art 10 of the

UDHR and Art. 14 of the ICCPR) Everyone is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty

in a fair trial. (Art. 11 (1) of the UDHR and Art. 14 (2) of the ICCPR)

International Standards

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence. (Art. 12 UDHR and Art. 17 (a) of ICCPR)

No one shall be subjected to unlawful attacks on his honor or reputation. (Art. 12 UDHR and Art. 17 (1) of ICCPR)

Standards Continued

No pressure, physical or mental, shall be exerted on suspects, witnesses or victims in attempting to obtain information. (Declaration on enforced Disappearance, Art. 13 (3), Principles on Summery Executions, Principle 15)

Torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment is absolutely prohibited. (Art. 5, UDHR, Art. 7, ICCPR, Art. 2, CAT, Code of Conduct, Art 5).

Standards Continued

Victims and witnesses are to be treated with compassion and consideration. (Principle 4 Victim Declaration, Principle 15, Summery Executions)

Confidentiality and care in the handling of sensitive information are to be exercised at all times (Art. 4, Code of Conduct)

Standards Continued

No one shall be compelled to confess or to testify against himself/herself. (At. 11 (1) UDHR, Art. 14 (3)(g) ICCPR).

Investigatory activities shall be conducted only lawfully and with due cause. (Art. 4 Code of Conduct)

Neither arbitrary nor unduly intrusive investigatory activities shall be permitted. (Art. 12 UDHR, Art. 17(1) ICCPR)

Standards Continued

Investigations shall be competent, thorough, prompt and impartial. (Principles on Summery Executions, Art. 9).

Investigations shall serve to identify victims; to recover evidence; to discover witnesses; to discover cause, manner, location and time of crime; to identify and apprehend perpetrators. (Principles on Summery Executions, Art. 9).

Standards Continued

Crime scenes shall be carefully processed and evidence carefully collected and preserved (Principles on Summery Executions, Art. 9, 12 and 13)

Standards Continued

Defining Torture and CIDs

The right to remain silent is inherent in the presumption of innocence. The decision to remain silent is not an indication of guilt.

The right to silence is also enshrined in international convention. Article 14, Paragraph 3(g) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that everyone is entitled “not to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt.”

The Right to Silence

The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) entered into force on 26 June 1987 and is considered to amount to a peremptory norm of international law. The convention creates an international crime of torture and establishes universal jurisdiction for this offense that allows any state that wishes to assert such jurisdiction to bring torturers to justice.

Convention Against Torture

Article 1 of CAT defines torture as: “Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

What is Torture?

Article 16(1) of CAT identifies a category of serious human rights abuse ancillary that of torture: “Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article I, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

What are CIDs?

Absolutely Prohibited

Physical violence Threat of violence Deliberate humiliation Mental torture Threats to family Sleep deprivation Withholding sustenance Hooding Stress positions Rendition to torture

Case Study 1: The Guildford Four

On 5 October 1974, IRA bombs exploded in two pubs in Guildford, Surrey, killing five people and injuring many others. After six weeks of investigation the police arrested four suspects who soon confessed to the bombing under intense coercive pressure. In 1977 four members of an IRA unit caught in London claimed responsibility for the attack but their claim was ignored.

Case Study: The Guildford Four

It later emerged that the police had falsified their notes from the interviews and the Appeals Court concluded that if they had lied about this, then all the police evidence was unreliable. The Four were released on 19 October 1989, after each serving 15 years in prison, and their convictions were overturned.

Case Study: The Guildford Four

In 1993 a film was made of the Guildford Four Case. In The Name of the Father was nominated for 7 Oscars and was shown all round the world – for many people internationally it was their first introduction to the Northern Ireland conflict and it was greatly damaging to the UK’s reputation around the world.

In the 1989 New York City Central Park Jogger case four false confessions were taken within a single investigation. Four teenage friends confessed during lengthy interrogations to the brutal assault and rape of a young woman in Central Park. The boys all later retracted their statements saying they had only confessed because they were told they would be allowed to go home afterward. Five boys were convicted on the basis of these confessions and sent to prison. They were finally exonerated in 2002 when the real perpetrator, an incarcerated serial rapist, provided a confession that was confirmed by DNA evidence.

Case Study 2: Central Park Jogger

EnergizerTake a Human Rights Stand

Refusing to cooperate with police is suspicious behavior - innocent people have nothing to hide.

Take a human rights stand

As a police investigator, should you get to the crime through the criminal or get to the criminal through the crime?


To get information from hardcore criminals, sometimes one needs to apply a degree of pressure or even torture.


Confession is the most reliable form of evidence there is – it is ‘the king of evidence.’


A police officer who strikes a suspect should be dismissed from the service


Practical Implications of Ignoring International

Standards

• Law enforcer becomes law breaker• Human dignity is transgressed• Erosion of crucial public confidence and

support• Isolation of police from the community• Exacerbation of civil unrest• Guilty parties go free – the innocent get

punished

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Consequences of Violations

• Cognizance by courts and the superiors• Personal enmities with criminals• Creates more violent and hardened criminals• Suspects abscond• Custodial deaths• Hampering of effective prosecutions in court• Victims of crime are left without justice

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• Permanent defamation of victims’ family in society

• Permanent physical and psychological injury to victim

• Removal of the “law” from “law enforcement”

• Police becomes reactive rather than proactive

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• Police personnel become victims of violence

• Financial and administrative implications for police personnel

• Enhanced violence in the society• International and media criticism and

political pressure on Government and police

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How Human Rights Violations Can Be

Addressed by Police Services

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• Preparation and use of investigation SOP• Training in modern investigative techniques• Training in use of forensic techniques• Efficient Performance Parameters/Evaluation

System• Improved Supervisory Mechanism• Vigorous Inspections and Internal Audit

How to Minimize HR Violations ?

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• Separate Disciplinary Rules for the Police Officers

• Frequent visit to lock ups and conversation with detainees

• Immediate legal/administrative action on complaints

• Victim-support mechanisms• Financial Incentives for Good Officers


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• Legal procedures which limit reliance on confessions

• Compulsory Property Insurance• Community policing strategies

enabling police to be closer to the community

• Cooperation from international policing technical programmes on current techniques and technologies for police investigations


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• Accessibility of supervisory officers• Public outreach campaigns• Establishment of civilian oversight bodies

like police complaints authorities, public safety commissions, police-public committees, police ombudsperson


Students will divide into two teams and devise five questions on the content of the presentation to test the other team. The team that answers the most questions correctly wins.

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Human rights in police investigations