CAT/C/LVA/CO/3-5 (b) Ensure that there is no pretrial detention in police stations and devise alternative, non-custodial measures to incarceration, taking into account the provisions of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules) when devising the alternative measures to preventive detention; (c) Ensure that persons remanded in custody are always promptly transferred to a prison; (d) Take steps, including of a legislative nature, to ensure that the return of prisoners to police detention facilities is sought and authorized only exceptionally, for specific reasons and for the shortest possible time. Such a return should in each case be subject to the authorization of a prosecutor or judge and should never be carried out by the sole decision of a police investigator; (e) Establish strict rules concerning the duration of detention in police stations, ensure their effective application by the judiciary and devise alternative measures to incarceration. Administration of justice 11. The Committee is concerned at the lack of efficiency of the judicial system, the unjustified slowness of both civil and criminal proceedings and the backlog of cases. (art. 2). The State party should: (a) Reform the judicial system with a view to enhancing the speed and efficiency of judicial proceedings, in particular with regard to criminal justice; (b) Take measures to strengthen the judiciary in the performance of its functions and improve further the regime of appointment, promotion and dismissal of judges in line with relevant international standards, including the Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary. Excessive use of force 12. The Committee is concerned at allegations of excessive use of force and instances of ill-treatment by law enforcement personnel at the time of apprehension and during investigation in police facilities. It is further concerned at the absence of a data collection system on cases of ill-treatment and at the low number of disciplinary and criminal sanctions. The Committee is also concerned at information that complaints and allegations concerning physical violence and ill-treatment by police officers are examined by the Internal Security Office of the State Police, which is part of the police force, and at the absence of information on the outcome of these investigations and on any compensation to the victims (arts. 2, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 16). The State party should: (a) Ensure that all reports of ill-treatment and excessive use of force by law enforcement personnel are investigated promptly, effectively and impartially, both at the disciplinary and the criminal level, by an independent mechanism with no institutional or hierarchical connection between the investigators and the alleged perpetrators; (b) Ensure that persons suspected of having committed acts of torture or illtreatment are immediately suspended from their duties and remain so throughout the investigation; (c) Prosecute persons suspected of physical violence and ill-treatment and, if found guilty, ensure that they are punished in accordance with the gravity of their 4