Background
The Maldives Police Service (MPS), established in 2004, celebrated its 6th anniversary in September of last year. Prior to its formation, the National Security Service (NSS) was mandated with policing in the Maldives. While it was not a dedicated police service, the NSS had a policing branch and a military branch. Both branches of the NSS were given the same initial military-style training, with very little focus on community orientation. There was also no separation of the two branches by uniform, or otherwise, and many Maldivians would use the terms Fuluhun (Police) and Sifain (Military) interchangeably. Even today it is not uncommon for people to incorrectly refer the police as Sifain, not because of ignorance but because they are so accustomed to using the term.
It was the separation of the NSS into the MPS and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) that gave rise to policing in the Maldives as we see it today. Falling under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the MPS focused on moving away from the military image it inherited from the NSS, and began working towards improving community confidence. Accordingly, a Strategic Action Plan for the period covering 2007-2011 was prepared by the MPS, with help from the Western Australian Police in 2007. The plan included creating a more community oriented police force, sensitizing the police on human rights and developing current services and establishing new facilities to meet modern standards.
Before the formation of the MPS, the general perception of the police, or NSS as it was known then, was that it was an enforcement agency, rather than a service provider. The biggest measure of the success of the MPS in implementing its plans is that the public perception of the police has changed positively within a very short span of time and citizens now feel that the police are a more approachable organization. The establishment of an independent Police Integrity Commission under the 2008 Police Act further helped to strengthen the public’s confidence in the police. However the police have been finding it difficult to maintain this confidence, with the crime rates increasing and conviction rates for high profile cases remaining very low. The apparent inability of the police to clampdown on increasingly brazen acts of gang crime has put further pressure on public confidence.
2010 was a hectic year for the Maldives both politically and socially. Crime rates were exceedingly high and there were instances of major political instability in the country. Given the state of the country, the MPS sometimes found themselves in very odd and awkward situations, such as forcibly entering and breaking up a Judicial Services Commission meeting on the president’s orders. In this particular instance, the Police Integrity Commission found that some police officers acted irresponsibly while carrying out the orders. The past year also saw for the first time in the Maldives, the MPS having to deal with the case of a self-proclaimed apostate in which they could not quite decide whether they were protecting him from a mob or detaining him for being an apostate. The eventual decision was detention. The police also found themselves struggling to detain a run-away goat on the streets of the capital early on a June morning.
The Numbers
Recent statistics released by the MPS shows that the number of cases filed with the police fell 11 per cent from 19,259 cases in 2009 to 16,995 cases in 2010. There were 4,125 arrests made in 2010, of which 138 were females and 366 were juveniles. While there was a drop in the crime rate, this is still very high compared to 11,452 cases just 3 years ago in 2007 and 4,567 cases a decade ago, in 2000.
Theft was the country’s most reported crime for the third consecutive year, with 4,001 cases reported to the MPS. Traffic related cases dropped steadily from 3,838 in 2008 to 2,473 cases in 2010 but still remained as the second most reported crime type.
Drug related offences were the third most reported, with 1,618 cases logged last year. This is a decline compared to 2,484 in 2008 and 2,366 drug related cases in 2009. Some credit for this reduction could certainly be attributed to the Drug Enforcement Department of the MPS, as statistics show that it was the most active department of the police in 2010 in terms of filing and prosecuting cases, with 844 cases sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office. This is more than double that of any other department within the police.
The police were faced with two custodial deaths last year. The first death happened in the capital island where a person detained for possession of suspected narcotics died in custody. He was found to have died due to a heart condition. The second case happened in Gaaf Dhaal Gadhoo, where a detainee set himself ablaze, and died while he was being treated in hospital. In both cases, the Police Integrity Commission did not find any evidence of torture, but found the MPS guilty of negligence.
Perhaps the most worrying figures come from the number of cases that reach the courts and end in convictions. While there were 3,323 cases sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office in 2010, only 776 ended in convictions, with 1,108 cases being sent back to the police for further investigation. From the cases filed in 2010, only 75 convictions were recorded.
While courts point their fingers at the police and the Prosecutor General for not presenting enough evidence, the police have gone on record very publicly saying that courts were obstructing their investigations. For example, in July 2010, the Deputy Commissioner of Police told the media that the Criminal Court was impeding police investigations into alleged corruption and bribery within the Parliament. The Deputy Commissioner also cited drug cases in which he claimed the courts had ‘unreasonably’ impeded investigations. This apparent breakdown in the relationship between the judiciary and the police is certainly cause for great concern.
One of the most high profile cases that did not end in a conviction was the case of Adam Naseer, who the government had labeled as one of the top six drug lords in the Maldives. In February 2010, the Criminal Court acquitted Naseer, citing that the Police could not prove the drugs found at his residence belonged to him, or that the large amounts of money found in his room was acquired by illegal means.
Several human rights NGOs in the country, including the Maldivian Democracy Network, have found the conviction rates alarming and in March last year, called upon all relevant state authorities to improve relations and communications among the various institutions as these relationships are vital for the effective prosecution of crime.
Mitigating Actions
The police themselves have been taking important measures to build capacity, reduce the levels of crime and increase crime detection. In July 2010, the Police opened a new Forensics building, which houses modern technologies for forensic investigations. However, there remains room for skepticism about the police’s ability to effectively deploy their new forensic tools and the judiciary’s capacity to engage with forensic evidence.
A child helpline and database was also established in partnership with the UN and other state institutions, which is designed to capture details of reporting and follow-up of cases of child abuse, juvenile delinquency and gender-based violence in the Maldives. Once again however, there remains skepticism, especially from women’s rights organizations about the level of gender sensitivity among frontline police officers.
In terms of important legislation, the Attorney General, on request of the MPS, drafted a bill on curbing gang violence and a bill on sharp and dangerous weapons. These bills were passed by the Parliament last year and made into law, in the hope that they would aid the police. However, it should be noted that to date, the police have sent only one case under the new Act on sharp and dangerous weapons to the Prosecutor General. Other bills related to the work of the Police such as the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill were also passed last year.
Community policing efforts also increased last year, with the police working with the youth, community elders, students, parents and even gang members to prevent and reduce crime levels. The police have now begun taking proactive steps rather than reactive steps to fight crime, and are using the concept of ‘partnership policing’ to come up with solutions for problems through public discourse. ‘Crime Prevention Committees’ have also been setup in all atolls of the country with varying degrees of success. These committees bring together community leaders and the police to come up with community based approaches to crime prevention.
Moving Forward
Important bills such as the Evidence Bill and the new penal code remain stuck in parliament while the Criminal Procedure bill is yet to be submitted to parliament. These are vital pieces of legislation in the successful prosecution of criminals and in the protection of human rights.
On 30th December 2010, the MPS unveiled a new Strategic Action Plan for 2011-2013. While the Maldives does have a sufficient police force in terms of number, the geographical dispersion of the population means that not all islands receive adequate service from the Police. The new strategic plan looks to alleviate this in the upcoming years. Another focus was on implementing better cyber crime fighting procedures, which is much needed at this time, especially as the new year started with a large-scale cyber attack against the leading communications service provider in the Maldives. According to the new strategic plan, mitigating violence, drugs related offences and financial crime remain a high priority for the Police, while fighting extremist ideologies, human trafficking and crimes against women and children are also highlighted as priority issues.
It should be acknowledged that some very successful steps have been taken over the past year to improve policing in the Maldives. However there still remain some reasons for concern. Necessary legislation needs to come into being, and improving relationships between state authorities is something that needs to happen at the earliest. Geographical dispersion should not be grounds for unequal treatment and it is important that the strategic plan be implemented effectively so as to meet the demand for policing in the more remote communities. For such a young organization working in a young, transitional democracy, these are obvious challenges. Still, given the seismic changes happening to policing and to the country in general, there are certainly great opportunities that can be exploited in order to deliver a more professional, effective and community oriented police force in the Maldives.