Police officers’ misconduct over female detainees

He was accused of committing the offence in his office ostensibly during a session held to ‘interrogate’ the detainee. The case came to light when the victim reported the matter to police authorities. There was a case earlier also in Lagos in respect of another rape incident involving Mr Adekunle Awe, also a Superintendent of […]

He was accused of committing the offence in his office ostensibly during a session held to ‘interrogate’ the detainee. The case came to light when the victim reported the matter to police authorities.

There was a case earlier also in Lagos in respect of another rape incident involving Mr Adekunle Awe, also a Superintendent of Police and DPO of Onikan Police Station, who assaulted a mother of two. These incidents join a string of other reported cases at police formations around the country, an unspeakable brutality by police officers that are supposed to be arm of the law.
The rape of female inmates by police officers is a heinous development that is becoming all too rampant. The limitations of the law in combating it effectively are often related to its largely unreported nature. Most victims often are reticent to report their ordeal due to fear of reprisals from the assailants, who subject them to intimidation and abuse, and who they usually see as too powerful. To be above the law
Beyond the physical violence associated with it, the victims of rape usually suffer from a complement of agonies, ranging from post-traumatic disorder, dissociation from reality and depersonalization. Other challenges they face include the tendency to avoid social life and the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. Suicides among victims are not rare. Every society considers rapists as animalistic, and disposed to severe sanction.
When such a crime is perpetrated by a law enforcement officer on detainees, the victims contend with double jeopardy. First they are denied their basic freedom and cannot under the circumstances demonstrate consent. Moreover they are abused by the very custodians whose duty is to protect, not defile. It is against such a backdrop that the law provides stiff penalties, life imprisonment, for law enforcement officers convicted of the offence.
Viewed against the general conduct of police officers in the country, the increase in cases of rape by law enforcement officials qualifies as an extension of the culture of impunity routinely displayed by them in their interactions with detainees. While other detainees may be pressured to provide gratification in cash or kind, the rape victims are made to bear life-threatening mental scars.
Ordinarily, it is a disturbing enough to get reports of such misconduct about junior non-commissioned officers. But for midlevel and senior officers who are Divisional Police Officers to also be involved in such seedy conduct speaks volumes on the depth to which ethics and discipline in the Force have sunk.
That is why nothing short of drastic measures by the police authorities would assuage public outrage over this development, with the starting point being the speedy arraignment of such officers who exploit helpless detainees placed statutorily in their charge. The Inspector General of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba, has an opportunity to acquit himself by focusing on his core duties.  He should waste no time in putting his foot down and ensuring that these incidents don’t recur in any police post to demonstrate a new regime of discipline he said he hoped to establish in the rank and file of the establishment.
Beyond this, the police authorities need to instil a new code of conduct in the management of detainees outside the public glare. For instance as is the practice in other climes, it should be standard procedure for police investigations to be recorded on camera. Besides, investigations involving female detainees should be conducted by female officers, or male and female officers working together.