A/HRC/4/40/Add.4 page 18 and reference materials. The Working Group was told that they have difficulties visiting detention centres as they lack vehicles and fuel. A further problem appears to be that the public defender assigned to a case may change repeatedly. 70. During the Working Group’s visit it emerged, however, that in addition to the lack of resources, the effectiveness of public defence is undermined also by the failure of many public defence lawyers to assertively play their role. They appear to limit themselves to a purely formal role and passive presence at the hearings in which the legality and necessity of detention is decided on. The Working Group has also received reports according to which public defence lawyers often press the defendants they assist to accept abridged proceedings or induce them to confess guilt in order to avoid a fully-fledged trial. C. Excessive power of the police 71. Until a decade ago, the National Police were under control of the military and the military was itself strongly involved in internal security. The police have since then been asserting themselves as a law enforcement force under civilian control. However, they face formidable challenges: in a country in which the population perceives crime and insecurity as dramatic problems, the police are only approximately 8,000 men and women strong. By way of comparison, according to information received by the Working Group, there are more than 50,000 private often heavily armed security guards in Honduras. 72. The police also experience severe lack of material resources. They do not have a sufficient number of vehicles to carry out their mandate, particularly in rural areas, and they do not have the means to purchase enough fuel to be able to use the vehicles whenever necessary. This can be the cause of detentions in violation of the law, such as when a suspect held in a police holding cell in a remote location cannot be brought before a judge, or when a minor cannot be immediately brought to one of the four IHNFA detention facilities, the only places minors can be lawfully held. The police also lack advanced forensic equipment and training. The Working Group has further observed that not only the holding cells for suspects at police stations are degrading, but also - at least in some police stations - the living areas and sanitary facilities for the policemen. 73. While the shortage of resources weakens the police’s capacity to effectively perform its function, the law gives the Ministry of Security and the police excessive power in the criminal justice system. In addition to its preventative mandate, the police are, through their General Directorate for Criminal Investigation (DGIC), in charge of the investigation of serious offences. While this function is in theory exercised under the direction of the public prosecution, in practice the 1998 law on the police has significantly weakened the control of the public prosecutors over criminal investigations by taking the DGIC away from the Public Prosecution and reincorporating it into the Ministry of Security. 74. As the National Police also runs the detention facilities, it exercises physical control over all persons in detention at all stages, and not only during the first 24 hours while they are in the holding cells of police stations. Whether or not the police act in conformity with the law and in good faith, this situation seriously jeopardizes the integrity of the criminal process, which requires effective checks and balances.