Transcript Police Corruption

March 2011, Kingston, Jamaica
Presentation by Chandra Algoe LLM
Policy Advisor on Drugs Related Matters
Policy Coordinator on Intellectual Property
Coordinator Division International Relations
Government Expert on Drugs and Crime
Ministry of Justice and Police; Suriname
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The Republic of Suriname with capital Paramaribo
is a Constitutional Democracy.
It has a population of 509,970 on an area of 63,037
square miles.
Official language is Dutch, but Sranang Tongo
(Creole), Hindustani, Javanese, Chinese and English
are spoken together with 15 other languages.
Literacy is over 90%.
Suriname has been independent since November
25, 1975.
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Since independence, the country has
experienced coups and political warfare. Civilian
government was often replaced by military
government.
The economy is highly regulated — the Doing
Business Report 2011 ranked Suriname 146th
out of 181 economies.
The overall freedom to conduct a business is
very limited under Suriname's regulatory
environment.
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Starting a business takes 694 days (Doing Business
Report 2011), compared to the world average of 38
days. We are the slowest.
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Obtaining a business license takes much more than
the world average of 225 days. Bankruptcy
proceedings are difficult and often prolonged
(Business Freedom Index).
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Suriname’s economic freedom score is 53.1, making
its economy the 129th freest in the 2011 Index. Its
score is 0.6 points higher than last year, reflecting
gains in four of the ten economic freedoms.
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Suriname is ranked 22nd out of 29 countries in the
South and Central America/Caribbean region, and
its overall score is lower than the world and
regional averages (Economic Freedom Index).
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Suriname ranked 75th out of 180 countries in the
Transparency International Corruption Perception Index
(CPI) for 2009.
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The 2010 CPI covers two countries fewer than last
year’s edition. The slight change resulted from
individual sources adjusting the range of countries they
assess. These adjustments in coverage made it possible
to include Kosovo for the first time, but led to the
exclusion of Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines, and Suriname, for which only two sources
of information were available that year.
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Criminal Code of Suriname 1972 (last amended in
2009).
Personnel Code 1962 (last amended in 1994).
Act on Money Laundering (2002).
Act on Reporting Unusual Transactions (2002).
Act on Witness Protection and Whistleblowers
(2002).
Act on Anti-Narcotics (1999).
The Proceeds of Crime Act (2002).
The Inter-American Convention Against Corruption
on (March 29, 1996).
 Report Berenschot; Integrity of the Government
(1995)
 Sector Study Governance in Suriname; April 2001
 Draft Anti-Corruption Act (2001) was made
compliant with the OAS Convention Against
Corruption and was presented and commented by
Parliament, 2008; Second Anti-Corruption Act
presented to Parliament, 2009.
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◦ Signed and ratified the Inter American Convention
against Corruption.
The objectives of this Convention are to:
 Promote and strengthen the development by each of
the States Parties of the mechanisms needed to prevent,
detect, punish and eradicate corruption
 Promote, facilitate and regulate cooperation among the
States Parties to ensure the effectiveness of the
measures and actions to prevent, detect, punish and
eradicate corruption in the performance of public
functions and acts of corruption specifically related to
such performance.
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Fighting corruption and bringing officials to justice
is one of the priorities of the government.
The former Minister of Natural Resources was
sentenced to 1 year for forgery in November 2003.
The Minister of Public Works was sentenced to 2
years for fraudulent matters in 2008.
The Minister of Trade and Industry was sentenced
to 1 year for fraud and money laundering on May 5,
2009. The case is currently being appealed.
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An Anti-Corruption Desk was installed at the Attorney
General’s Office and every 2 weeks the Chief of Police
has a meeting with the Attorney General to discuss
cases of policemen who committed offenses. Small
cases can be handled disciplinary.
A Special Prosecutor is assigned to handle offences
committed by the military.
The UNDP contracted a consultant to prepare a project
document “Support for implementing the Policy Plan
for Protection of Legal Rights and Safety- Legal
Protection and Human Rights and Anti-Corruption
2008-2011”.
Together with the UNDP as a technical partner, the
focus of this project board is placed on
enhancement of the:
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Awareness under government/public officials and
the private sector on the attraction of corruption;
“Corruption prevention policy” of the Government
of the Republic Suriname.
In June 2010 the workshop with stakeholders was
held in order to formulate Suriname’s “Plan of
Action”.
Baseline study on Corruption – Prevention in
Suriname;
 Formulate a national corruption prevention
strategy and strategic plan;
 Formalize the Steering Committee for
Corruption – Prevention;
 Create awareness in the society;
 Approve the Anti-Corruption Act;
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Training of public service providers such as
Customs, Central Bureau for Civil
Registration, Surinamese Police Corps,
Department of Alien Affairs, Service of the
domains etc.;
 Media communication campaign for private
service providers such as public notaries,
merchants, exporters and importers;
 Sessions at political office bearers such as the
district council and resort council.
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- The government needs to focus on increasing
the probability that corruption will be detected
and punished appropriately. This implies a need
to increase transparency and accountability.
- Political parties are formed through ethnic
lines. The winning party not only appoints a
Minister from their ethnic group, but will
replace existing staff members with
individuals from the same ethnic group e.g.
the Military Commander and the Chief of
Police.
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Officials who get low wages are vulnerable to
corruption. (Dec. 2010, Jan. 2011; extortion by
police officers in case of traffic violation).
Anti-corruption monitoring groups or commissions.
Enforce existing anti-bribery legislation.
Stop ethnic politics and ethnic thinking.
The Anti-Corruption Act is not in place yet.
Suriname must approve the Anti-Corruption Act
without further delay.
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Corruption undermines the credibility and
discipline of state organizations, thereby weakening
their performance and ability to enforce regulations
in key areas, such as law enforcement.
Proposal of the government to have an Integrity
Test for every department of the police and the
custom was rejected earlier but should be
reconsidered.
Preparation of the installation of a Corruption
Prevention Commission on short notice to control,
protect and create awareness.
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The UK NIM is universally accepted and
categorises crime (in this case corruption)
into three levels:
◦ Level 1 ◦ Level 2 ◦ Level 3 -
Local
Cross Border
Transnational
◦ Level 3 corruption involves serious and organized
crime on a regional and international level.
◦ After consultation with several regional law
enforcement agencies, it appears that corrupt
lower ranked police officers are involved in level 3
corruption as opposed to the police high
command. This is against conventional thinking.
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In August 2009, 93 kg of confiscated cocaine
disappeared from the depot of the A-Team.
There was no forced entry and the surveillance
camera was out of order.
Introduction of an Integrity Investigation; The
supervisors failed the lie detector test and were
transferred.
The case remained unsolved until August
2010.
Because of his spending pattern 1 police
officer was arrested (buying of heavy
equipment) and afterwards several civilians
were arrested.
 Approaching of civilians to smuggle the
cocaine to Europe (Holland).
 The case is currently handled by the court.
 This case brought a severe blow to the image
of the Surinamese Police Corps.
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Operation Guard Shack
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October 6, 2010
Biggest crackdown on police
corruption in FBI history
133 individuals charged with
drug trafficking charges
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 60 – Puerto Rico Police Dept.
 16 - Municipal Police Depts.
 12 – Puerto Rico Corrections
Dept.
 National Guard and Army Soldiers
 Administrative Officials and
civilians.
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Unprecedented scope,
750 FBI personnel flown
in to make arrests
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From July 2008 to Sept.
2008, 125 drug
transactions were
conducted by the FBI
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Corrupt law enforcement
provided security for drug
deals for US$500-US$4500
per transaction
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Officials operated in small
unconnected syndicates
and mainly recruited
friends and family
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Puerto Rico acts as a
major transit for
narcotics between
South America and the
Eastern US
Arrests served as an
awakening for police
force that already had
a reputation for
brutality and
corruption
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Calls for urgent reform
by Government officials
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Arrests deemed to
strengthen law
enforcement in Puerto
Rico.
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February 11, 2011
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One of the biggest
operations against police
corruption in Rio de
Janeiro
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Resulted in the arrest of
32 officers
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Rio police long accused
of corruption and
covering up brutality
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Investigation s began in
2009 when a planned
operation failed due to
authorities tipping off
drug traffickers.
The city is attempting
to clean itself for the
2014 World Cup and
2016 Olympic Games
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The over 30 officers
were allegedly:
– Collaborating with gangs
– Divulging sensitive
information
– Stealing and selling
drugs, money and
confiscated weapons
– Gambling
– Leading militia groups
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The first and second in
command were also
allegedly involved in
corruption.
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The First in Command
represented the 4th
Police Chief to go in the
last five years. Two were
arrested in suspicion of
criminal activity.
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Ms. Martha Rocha now 5th
Police Chief
27 years of service in Civil
Police
Aims to curb drug trafficking
and police corruption
“Attorney General pleased with the
Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau”
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St. Lucia.gov
09/05/2006
St. Lucia
Carib Daily.com
27/03/2010
St. Kitts and Nevis
Based on discussions the recruited officers
will be assigned responsibilities including anticorruption.
“SS Council discusses OECS Police
Service and anti-corruption strategies”
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Trinidad and Tobago
AG Ramlogan proud established committee
to root out corruption at state agencies.
“PM discusses issues of mutual
security interests to St. Lucia and the
UK”
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Power 102 FM
20/08/2010
Proposed OECS Police Service and integration
of the RSS discussions were underway.
“Massive Police Corruption Uncovered”
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Confidential document leaked pointing to illegal
insider trading of state funds within the Royal
Grenada Police Force
Spice
Grenada.com
13/09/2008
St. Kitts and
Deputy Commissioner of Police allegedly collecting Nevis Observer
allowances for months for which he was not
28/01/2011
“Police Corruption”
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Grenada
St. Kitts and Nevis
entitled to.
“Two VIPD officers charged for extortion,
bribery and other charges”
Justice.gov
2009
British Virgin Islands
“Secret withdrawal of bribery charges
against Barbados cop stinks of corruption
at the highest level”
Barbados Free
Press
03/07/2009
Barbados
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“A Police Service in a Mess ”
Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday, 02/12/2007
In 2007, serious allegations of corruption were leveled by a
senior member of the First Division
The Superintendent contended that police officers were
involved in corruption as well as in the drugs and the arms
trade.
The same Superintendent, unconfident in the system ,
pleaded for Scotland Yard to oversea the investigations of
corruption
Witnesses were allegedly afraid to come forward to local
authorities.
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Similarly, in 1992, a then Assistant Commissioner of Police
alleged that there was a drug cartel operating in the Service.
The then Prime Minister sought the assistance of Scotland
Yard who met great resistance from the Service.
A number of police officers were charged with various
offences.
After all investigations were concluded:
– All officers were acquitted
– Two senior officers sued the Attorney General and won
substantial damages
– Public saw Scotland Yard as a waste of taxpayers money
– Resentment and chaos were the result
Scott Drug Report 1987:
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Allegations were made against 52 police officers for involvement in
drugs, extra-judicial killings and the dissemination of sensitive
information
Testimony was taken in private before the then Chairman and witnesses
and underworld characters gave evidence against police officers, mostly
from the Flying Squad.
The Results:
 One testimony let the then Commissioner’s credibility in shambles
after which he opted for early retirement
 All the members of the Flying Squad were recalled to duty more than
two years later
 Some were eventually promoted.
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The Caribbean is viewed as one region despite
individual nations
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From a strategic point of view the Caribbean is
America’s third border and gateway to Europe.
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The Caribbean poses threats to these borders and as
such it is conceptualized that corruption should be
treated on a regional basis.
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Sharing intelligence and methodology
Standardized collation & collection methods
Analysis and dissemination of intelligence to
international standards
Established lines of communication via SPOCs
Mutually agreed protocols for primacy and
crossover issues
MOUs for asset and resource sharing
Annual conference and biannual forums
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Improve facilitation for the sharing of intelligence.
Create a regional medium for networking and
sharing of information, training and best practices.
Centralized Analysis
Strategic and tactical informed decision making
Greater collaboration in terms of the regional
sharing of intelligence. Support the anti-corruption
programmes of law enforcement agencies in the
Caribbean.
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Easier access to international funding DFID, USAID,
OAS and the CBSI
Greater utilization of CARICOM IMPACS
Greater utilization of the Caribbean Intelligence
Fusion Centre
Utilization of the ‘Jamaican experience’ to assist
and support the region in the development of anticorruption strategies, policies, development plans,
training and simply sharing best practices.
Thank you