Arrest of police officers startling

The alleged involvement of the SRPs in the kidnapping makes the police investigators’ success even more praiseworthy. As the public is well aware, police officers are often reluctant to police their own. When officers appear in court on charges, their colleagues give them special treatment and, in one notorious instance, even allowed relatives of an accused officer to abuse and attack media personnel. But police investigators have admitted to strong suspicions that some members of the Police Service are involved in organised crime.

In respect to kidnapping, this seems probable. Of all types of crime, kidnapping for ransom should theoretically be the easiest to detect. After all, money must be picked up at some point, which means that the criminals must expose themselves. This in turn means that the authorities can catch them red-handed or, in these days of micro-electronics, track the person paying the ransom or the money itself. So, in order for the kidnappers to carry out their operation properly, they must either have counter-measures, which would at least require some knowledge of police procedure, or inside information, which would require police allies.

The relative lack of success that the police have had in stemming kidnappings lends credence to the argument about some officers being involved. And that is why the Nath case could prove a crucial turning point in stamping out the kidnapping industry. It is an established criminological fact that high detection and convictions rates are the best weapons against crime. The Police in this instance have accomplished the first part - it is now up to the State to ensure that the second part is accomplished efficiently and quickly. Indeed, we would argue that the State should give this case the same priority as the Dr Vijay Naraynsingh matter, inasmuch as kidnapping is the second most worrisome crime in our society.

But, even if no convictions are secured, there is another valuable lesson to be learned here. The two SRPs are reportedly from the 1,000 batch of officers recruited in 2003 when the Government decided to beef up the Service’s manpower. Such haste, motivated by political expediency, may have backfired. It has backfired if there are now individuals in the Police Service placed to cooperate with professional criminals. It has backfired if the Service is now seen by criminals as populated by poorly-trained officers who are ill-equipped to handle even traffic duty.

In the medium-term, the Police Service must be improved by rooting out bad cops. This means revamping the Police Complaints Authority and the procedures for handling corrupt and incompetent officers. It also means promoting officers who have the integrity and the skills to deal with such officers even before matters reach the PCA.

In the long-term, however, the best solution is to ensure that officers are fit to be in the Service — both in terms of training and in terms of character.

Perhaps then we will be able to praise the Police Service more regularly.