Develop community policing strategies, enabling police to be closer to the community and hence to information vital to the prevention and solving of crimes.
Solicit technical cooperation, including, where necessary, from international technical
policing programmes, on current techniques and technologies for police investigations.
Announce and enforce strict penalties for violations of regulations governing the legality of investigatory practices.
Questions
01. Why is it important for the right to presumption of innocence to be respected?
02. How does the presumption of innocence contribute to respect for the right to a
fair trial?
03. How does the right of a person to be informed promptly of the charges against
him or her contribute to respect for the right to a fair trial?
04. Why is it important for a person accused of crime to be free from any compulsion to testify against himself or herself?
05. What are the essential qualities of a police officer specialized in the investigation of crime?
06. Describe briefly the guidance you would give to a newly appointed police official on how to carry out a personal search of an individual.
07. Describe briefly the risks to a police officer when he or she is managing a confidential informant and how these risks may be reduced.
08. Describe briefly the risks to the achievement of ethical policing associated with
the use of confidential informants and how these risks may be reduced.
09. Should the ethical standards that apply to the investigation of major crime be the
same as those that apply to the investigation of minor crime?
10. Criminals don’t obey the rules. Why should the police?
Exercise
Police investigations
The police in Exland operate with few resources, little modern equipment and no
trained investigative specialists. The police have come to rely almost entirely on confessions or other evidence obtained through various forms of pressure put on suspects,
including threats, verbal abuse, detention in dark cells, denial of food and, in some
cases, torture. Persons suspected of being political opponents of the Government are
often subjected to police surveillance and are frequently taken into custody, interrogated and released. Warrants are seldom sought for searching homes or offices, and most
arrests are also carried out without a warrant.
You must advise the local police on the conduct of lawful and effective investigations. How will you respond to the questions of the Exland Police Commissioner?
1. “What are the basic international standards regarding police investigations?”
2. “Why should we not rely on forcing a few confessions to get criminals off
the streets?”
3. “We do not have the expensive, modern equipment for investigations and
forensics that other countries have. How can we catch criminals and collect
evidence if we don’t use our current methods?”
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