Measures to raise efficiency in  police probes and prosecutions

POLICE have been losing too many criminal cases in courts in the last two decades. The National’s senior reporter Clifford Faiparik talks to Crime Division Asst Comm (ACP) Hodge Ette on his plans to revamp and raise efficiency in police investigations and prosecutions.

PAPUA New Guinea (PNG)’s police Crime Division consists of seven directorates – Forensic, National Fraud and Anti-Corruption, Prosecutions, National Anti-Drug and Anti-Vice Squad, National Crime Investigations, Transnational Crime and National Crime Intelligence.

ACP Ette … focus is on training to enhance investigations and prosecutions.
“These directorates under my command are critical in the Royal Papua New Police Constabulary to ensure justice is delivered to everyone, irrespective of status and position,” Crime DivisionACP Hodge Ette said.
“However their functions have deteriorated in the last 20 years due to poor investigations and poor prosecutions resulting in many sensitive cases being thrown out of the courts. And this is a serious concern for the police force and the nation as a whole.
“When cases like murder, rape, robbery and fraud get thrown out of the courts, the victims and their families’ hope for justice also get thrown out, causing more aguish and mistrust in the judiciary system.
“The rot is due to detectives and prosecutors having not undergone any basic and advance courses in investigations and prosecutions. So the younger detectives and prosecutors learn through on the job training by observing the performance of their senior officers.
“However it is not effective as we are now seeing experienced lawyers defending their clients before the courts and can easily detect flaws in the wording of charges or even wrong charges. They then call for the dismissal of the cases.
“Two things hit the media headlines. When suspects are caught and when a case is dismissed or struck out because of lack of evidence.
“So my vision is to focus on training. We have done an audit on my division to review our manpower, logistics and level of experiences and qualifications. At the Bomana Training College, we have upgraded the prosecution training curriculum to cater for new legislations.
“Also, we have the assistance of the Australian Assisting Policing (AAP) partnership programme and we have begun looking at prosecutions nationwide,” he added.
ACP Ette said the audit had been completed and action plans had been put in place by the late Prosecution Director Chief Supt Jimmy Onopia.
“We also had meetings with our stakeholders, like the Public Prosecutor, Public Solicitor, Magisterial Services, National Judicial Services and the Attorney-General’s Office as well.
“To date, we have launched three prosecution training workshops in Kokopo (New Guinea Island region), Bomana (Southern) Mt Hagen (Highlands) and Lae (Momase).
“Prosecution curriculum training is also sorely needed, and we have come up with six handbooks. The handbooks cover the Cyber Crime Act, Family Protection and the Family Protection Act.
“We have also developed a sentencing hand book on Juvenile justice. These handbooks are for the training programmes for prosecution. We have been very lucky to have the support and backing of the AAP partnership.
“The AAP have been playing a significant role in driving the training programmes. These are exciting times for prosecutors. We have something unique that is being developed to strengthen our prosecutions, and take accountability of the cases.
“All files from detectives to prosecutors must be checked. If the file is not in order, it should not see the light of day light in court. It should be referred back to the investigator.
“Many times the cases are thrown out of courts basically because the file is not in order in the first place. Our prosecutors too did not check. So I am now insisting that all prosecutors take account of the case.
“I will ensure that all the investigators are held accountable and I am demanding all prosecutors must inspect the briefs all files received from investigators.
“If a file is not in order, the case file must be returned to the investigator for appropriate action. Tell them to do it again. Our prosecutors have the constitutional duty to ensure that case files that are not in order do not get to court.
“We hope that we will cut down on defective files ending being thrown out by courts,” he added.
“I have also disbanded the controversial Vetting Committee and I am now planning to set up a Sub Adjudicating Committee nationwide. This committee will review all the cases after every arrest.
“And if a case lacks evidence and is likely to be struck out or dismissed in committal proceedings in a district court, then the committee will instruct the detectives working on the case to investigate further and collect more evidence.
“And after the case file is satisfactorily completed with adequate evidence, then it will be handed over to the police prosecutor for action before the courts.
“The committee is different from the former Vetting Committee. In the past, the Vetting Committee meets and verifies a case before an arrest is made.
“That committee can stop any arrest before any arrests are made if they feel that the case lacks evidence. But for the new committee, it will review the case after the arrest is made and then they can advise the detectives on what to do further for cases to proceed smoothly at committal proceedings at the National Court,” he added.
ACP Ette said there were many reforms that police prosecutors were not aware or familiar with, like the new Acts like in Road Traffic, Cybercrime, Lukautim Pikinini Act etc. Most of our prosecutors are not competent to prosecute cases, especially fraud and anti-corruption cases that are handled by professional lawyers. They sit in court rooms in awe of the suspect’s professional private lawyers and they are lost. We are also looking at recruiting lawyers and even law gradates as police prosecutors after their graduation at the Legal Training Institute.,” he added.
ACP Ette said another area that needed to be upgraded in police investigations and prosecutions were the police intelligence officers and their information gathering system.
“These officers need specialised training to improve their skills in intelligence and information gathering. We don’t have intelligence courses at the Bomana police college. We also need police analysers to analyse the raw information collected by our police field intelligence officers for proper and efficient collating.
“We are looking at the AAP to help us in training our intelligence officers. We are also looking at the Indonesian police intelligence officers to train us as well,” he added.
ACP Ette said: “We have also identified the need to better train our fraud officers. Since last year, the Australian Aid, under the Law and Justice Service Sector, has helped us to fund training and workshops for fraud officers nationwide.
“After all, we also don’t have training courses in Bomana for fraud and anti-corruption investigations and prosecutions. And fraud and anti-corruption cases are becoming rampant in public offices.
“We have not only started criminal investigation courses with the help of the AAP. We are also looking into gender equality needs and some 20 women detectives are undergoing courses. They come from all over PNG.
“We are trying to elevate and up skill women in criminal investigations. We are also running prosecution courses for policewomen. And we also thinking of bringing in retired detectives and Prosecutors to run courses,” he added.
ACP Ette said anti-drug and anti-vice detectives also needed to improve their investigation skills because of the growing use of sophisticated technology in such activities.
“Such crimes are also rampant because of the illicit rewards and potential gains. Our detectives need to acquire skills to keep them ahead and smarter than those involved in smuggling and peddling of hard drugs and pornographic materials.
“The peddling of traditional drugs like marijuana is still rampant nationwide,” he added.
One of the most important aspect of police investigations, if not most crucial, ACP Ette said, was the field of forensic science.
“We need to upgrade our National Forensic Services to become a Directorate. The forensic laboratory must be upgraded to effectively suit our needs for all sorts of tests. Drugs, firearms, ballistic, finger prints, document examination and crime scene investigation,” he said.
ACP Ette said the Transnational Crime Unit was currently reporting directly to the Australian Federal Police.”
“We now want the unit to also report to our Commissioner. We give them the tasks but they report to Pacific Transnational Crime Centre in Samoa which is funded by Australia,” he added.
ACP Ette said: “Another thing that is set to be different is the salary scheme of our detectives and prosecutors so that they don’t get the same salary as their equivalent rank in other units. They will be on contract. If they are transferred to other units, they will return to their normal salary in force,” he added.