Police and Rights Officials Address Baucau Violence
02/12/2002
In a press
conference at
UNMISET headquarters today, Timor-Leste Police
Service (TLPS) Commissioner Paulo Martins, UN Police (UNPOL) Commissioner
Peter Miller and the Chief of UNMISET's Human Rights Unit, Patrick Burgess
answered questions about the on-going investigation into the 25 November
violence in the Baucau area that left one Timorese dead.
At the outset
of the conference both Police Commissioners reinforced their
earlier statements that the investigation was being conducted in a thorough
and transparent manner. UNPOL Commissioner Peter Miller expressed his
regrets at the loss of life and said ballistic testing was already underway
to determine who fired the shot. Commissioner Miller declared, "no
one wins
with violence", and added, "I want that message out throughout
the country".
TLPS Commission
Paulo Martins appealed to the local community to help
create conditions of stability and asked them to participate in the
investigation to the fullest extent possible. He noted that government
cars
and other assets had been destroyed in the violence and he urged the
Timorese people to help protect these donated items which are essential
to
police functions.
While both
police commissioners said they were not yet far enough along in
the investigation to confirm who specifically was behind the violence,
Commissioner Miller said, "it appeared the protesters were well-organized
and we will try to find out who was behind it." He cited what he
believed
to be two factors behind the violence: One was earlier police-community
tension that had developed in Wailili on 18 November. In that incident
police broke-up an illegal road block and the resulting confrontation
left
one officer injured and 16 people detained. The second factor, according
to
the UNPOL Commissioner was long-standing unhappiness with the recruitment
process for the TLPS.
Commissioner
Miller said that while anyone can apply for the TLPS, there
are not enough positions available. "This problem," he said,
"is simply not
going to go away with 70 per cent unemployment". He cited as a particular
concern the plight of the 6,000 Falintil veterans who had applied for
police positions with only a small number being able to be recruited.
He
suggested the need for a national policy to deal with the ex- Falintil
and
clandestinos. "We can't put 6,000 in the police force. The math doesn't
work out."
Commissioner
Miller was asked about allegations that the Minister of
Internal Administration, Rogerio Lobato, whose Ministry oversees the TLPS,
had weakened police authority. He responded that there may have been
incidences in which Mr. Lobato "had received wrong information".
He added,
however, that "We have been working with him for some time and have
good
relations." He also said, "We are strengthening communication
with Minister
Lobato by placing UNPOL liaison officers in the ministry "so he has
good,
timely information". Commissioner Miller urged the journalists at
the press
conference to remember: "This is a new country and a new ministry,
all just
a few months old. There will be mistakes".
Asked whether
the Timorese people were increasingly critical of the TLPS,
Commissioner Miller said, "The people respect them even though they
are a
young force". He compared them to the 25 years of Indonesian policing.
"The
two big problems then were corruption and violence against human rights."
Commissioner Miller said, "We listen very carefully to the complaints
against the police, but most are not against the regular police officers
in
their blue shirts but the SPU." He added, "We are going to be
looking at
this area, at discipline, professionalism and training to make them better".
Commissioner
Miller told the press conference of UNPOL's concern regarding
human rights. "This is why the Human Rights Unit is part of the
investigation team".
Patrick
Burgess, the Chief of the Human Rights Unit, said that he felt that
in general the "Timorese police have been doing a good job to date
in terms
of human rights".
He said,
however, "We are always concerned when we see injuries resulting
from clashes between agents of the state and civilians, but it's too early
to say what took place". He said an important part of the investigation
will be to establish whether police used an appropriate level of force
to
deal with the threat.
Mr. Burgess
added that by international human rights standards, "use of
force should only be in exceptional cases and proportional to the threat."
He told the journalists, "The field of human rights pays particular
attention to agents of the state because they have authority to use firearms".
Commissioner
Miller said that when dealing with violence such as occurred
in Baucau, officers have to assess and only use the force that is
necessary. "There are other options than the firearm", he said.
"There's
the baton, pepper spray and tear gas at our disposal". Mr. Miller
added,
"These are key issues we will be looking at, but there are always
situations where you have to use the gun".
When asked
about alleged concerns amongst some TLPS police officers
regarding their own safety, Commissioner Miller said it was his sense
that
some of this police frustration has to do with inadequate equipment such
as
lack of cars or radios, the inability to communicate. These are issues,
he
indicated, that need to be addressed.
The Investigation is expected to take several weeks