A/HRC/31/57/Add.2 technical resources. At the same time, NGOs must also be permitted to undertake regular monitoring of places of detention. 11. The Special Rapporteur regrets that he was not provided with information on whether the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS) fulfills its mandate of visiting police stations to check on the conditions and treatment of persons in police custody. Given reports of the use of torture and other ill-treatment by police officers and the ostensible absence of accountability for such practices, he concludes that this mandate is not adequately fulfilled. III. Assessment of the situation A. Practice of torture and other ill-treatment 12. The Special Rapporteur is particularly troubled by reports that instances of torture and other ill-treatment occur with some frequency during the apprehension, arrest, and interrogation of suspects, and particularly as a means to extract confessions, by police. During visits to Nsawam and Ankaful, he received multiple reports from detainees that they had been subjected to beatings, blows – including with canes, batons, wires, and stick – punches, and slaps, in the early hours and days following their arrest and while being interrogated. A number of inmates reported having been forced to sign confessions they could not read. Two persons reported having been kept in police cells for one month and 14 days respectively and subjected to multiple beatings. The Special Rapporteur expresses grave concern over these allegations, which have been corroborated by frank discussion with authorities and reliable information from civil society, according to which the police are the main perpetrators of torture. B. Complaints mechanisms and investigations 13. The Special Rapporteur regrets that he was not presented with recent statistical data about allegations of torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement, or about results of investigations, prosecutions, and penalties imposed on perpetrators. According to some statistics, the PIPS (which is tasked with receiving and investigating complaints about police brutality and human rights abuses and making recommendations to the InspectorGeneral of the Police and the Criminal Investigations Department) has received nearly 2,000 complaints in 2013 and 2014, and dismissed or sanctioned at least 400 officers in the period 2013 – 2015, with chief complaints being police misconduct, unprofessional handling of cases, including undue delay in investigation, and unfair treatment. Nevertheless, civil society has described the work of PIPS as “completely opaque.” 14. The Government indicated that it believes most cases continue to go unreported, with prisoners “suffering [abuses] in silence” and not reporting cases of mistreatment for fear of reprisals or worsening their situation. Although the Government reported successes in efforts to sensitize law enforcement officials and in raising public awareness about complaints procedures, the absence of specific data on complaints of police brutality and mistreatment is troubling. Plans by the Ministry of Interior to establish an Independent Police Complaints Commission to complement the work of PIPS would be a welcome development. 15. The Special Rapporteur welcomes reports that the CHRAJ, together with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF), recently trained police officers on techniques for investigating torture in the context of the effective implementation of the Luanda Guidelines (Guidelines 5