The police are granted a great deal of freedom to use their judgment regarding which laws to enforce, when and against whom. This wide range of options and authority can lead to the abuse of their power. Some police officers come to see themselves not as simply enforcers of the law, but as the law itself.
Hundreds of millions of the poorest people in the developing world are abused by corrupt police who extort bribes and brutalize innocent citizens, or are held in abusive pre-trial detention.
In many places in the developing world, rather than teach their children to run to the police if they are in trouble, parents must teach them to run from the police to stay safe from harm.
"Poor people regard the police as agents of oppression, not protection. Over and over again, poor people said that justice and police protection are only for rich businesses, rich people and those with connections."
-The Facts:
In any given year, there are about 10 million people held in pre-trial detention in the world’s prisons and jails.
In 2012, the IJM team and its partners estimated that 15-30% of prisoners awaiting trial in Nairobi’s Industrial Remand Prison alone may be victims of police abuse.
A recent study by the Kenyan Independent Policing Oversight Authority found that in nearly 2 out of every 3 felony cases examined that went to full trial, police never gathered enough evidence to charge (let alone convict) the accused person with a crime.
-Understanding the issue: In many communities in the developing world, the police can detain suspects in jail with virtually no evidence. In these circumstances, it is easy for officers to frame poor people who may have limited formal education in order to conclude investigations quickly. Poor people can be imprisoned on the basis of a mere accusation, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even for being unable to pay a bribe to a corrupt officer.
With insufficient training on professional methods of investigation and virtually no accountability for bad police, corrupt officers can physically and sexually assault those they are meant to protect. The terrifying result is that billions of the poorest people live in communities in which the police not only fail to protect them from violent predators, but where the police themselves become violent predators.
One way that the police is abusing their power are the abusive officers. The normal abusers are not able to enlist the help of the criminal justice system to carry out their threats. Batterers within law enforcement, however, are. Officers tell their victim, "Call the police. Who are they going to believe?" , and that's true.
Advocates working with these victims must be knowledgeable not only about the general dynamics of domestic violence but also about
police-perpetrated domestic violence tactics and the workings of the criminal justice system. Working with victims of officer-involved domestic violence has made us acutely aware that the standard remedies are often inadequate and may even leave the victim more vulnerable. We need to
rethink our strategies on many different levels. Because this issue is so complex, we need to educate ourselves and other community providers before we can hope to adequately serve this special population.
The sad truth is that the police can abuse their power and they will. And I don't think there is much we can do to change that. The lust for power is a basic human attribute, as long as they have that power, they'll keep seeking more by abusing it.
If you are really interested in this theme and have free time, I advice you on reading this report :
http://www.policefoundation.org/content/abuse-police-authority
sources:
http://www.abuseofpower.info/ ;
www.ijm.org/