E/CN.4/1990/17 page 60 Congress for a vastly expanded budget in order to be able to appoint 53 new functionaries. As things stood, his office was unable to carry out its most important task. But even with increased manpower, there would be the problem that the actual investigation had to be carried out by the police, who were badly trained and underpaid. The Special Rapporteur was informed that in the past, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, there had been a judicial police, but that in 1982, after a coup d'etat, the relevant provisions of the Code had been abrogated. The Attorney-General was of the opinion that the reintroduction of a separate judicial police branch would greatly enhance the effectiveness of the investigative machinery. The judicial police, though belonging to the police force in general, should be accountable only to the Attorney-General. 189. The Attorney-General also complained about the lack of co-operation from the population in bringing evidence. Since the rules on evidence are very strict in Guatemala, in many instances it proved to be impossible to conclude a case and bring it to the court. 190. Both the President of the Supreme Court and the Deputy Procurator for Human Rights confirmed the opinion of the Attorney-General that his Office should be strengthened. They also agreed that at present the police were not able to carry out investigations satisfactorily because of lack of training and lack of equipment. 191. At present the police i6 made up of three branches: the National Police, which is entrusted with general police tasks, the guardia de hacienda, which is competent in matters of customs and now has the main reponsibility for the control of drug trafficking, and, lastly, the military police which, apart from having the normal military police tasks, may also be used to provide protection for private enterprises. The units entrusted with this latter task are called the military police patrols. In view of the increase in crime and violence, it was decided in August 1988 to co-ordinate the work of the two civilian police forces and the military police patrols in what is known as the Sistema de Proteccion Civil (SIPROCI) or civil protection system. Since the composing elements belong to different ministries, the system is co-ordinated by both the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence and is under the official command of the President. The mere fact that this system, the effectiveness of which is controversial, was set up as an emergency measure is an indication that the police is not up to its task, either quantitatively or qualitatively. 192. The Minister of the Interior informed the Special Rapporteur that steps had been taken to improve the situation. A police academy was to be opened in two months' time. Its capacity was provisionally set for 250 students but would gradually be extended to 1,000. Several groups of policemen received training abroad, whereas several countries provided the police with modern equipment. A training curriculum with great emphasis on human rights issues was in preparation. One great problem, however, could not be solved in the near future: the police were badly underpaid, but due to financial strain the Government was not in a position to raise wages to a satisfactory level. 193. During his talks with the Director General of the National Police the Special Rapporteur was told that a new office had been created within the police about a year earlier. This office, known as the "Professional Responsibility Office" (Oficina de Responsabilidad Profesional), is charged