The recent complaint of alleged Police brutality, under investigation by the Internal Affairs, is serious in the wake of Government’s declared zero tolerance against such conduct and behaviour in our disciplined forces. Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho has also publicly stated that he does not condone nor tolerate brutality in the Police.

The Police, with the help of United Nations Development Programme, British Government, other international partners and agencies, has been conducting training workshops to upskill its officers to recognise and deal with human rights issues within the bounds of the law.

A clear message has gone out that brutality or any form of human rights abuse by any state agencies is unacceptable and unlawful.

There is a case before the court now of eight Police officers and a soldier now on trial for alleged rape and assault.

The recent complaints that include the assault of a detained man in Suva for being allegedly drunk and disorderly do not give the Police a good look.

In fact it has fired up again this perception of an alleged culture of brutality in the Police, just when we thought it has been eliminated because of the training workshops.

The internal investigation by the Police will identify the officers allegedly involved and bring them to justice. It is in the interest of the Police that these complaints are investigated swiftly and resolved because people are watching and waiting to see the outcome.

A quick resolution to these cases will help restore confidence and allow the Police to focus on their core role of maintaining law and order.