By Bampia James Bundu
Director of Community Relations in the Sierra Leone Police, Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Chris Charlie, has urged all police personnel to respect the rule of law and work within the ambit of the SLP mandate.
He was speaking in connection to an incident last week involving ASP Marie Jalloh, a situation akin to police misconduct. The female officer, reportedly, unlawfully arrested and detained a passenger because he failed to disembark from a vehicle when asked to do so by the officer.
According ASP Charlie, the information he got suggested ASP Jalloh tried to force the occupants of the taxi to disembark when a male passenger refused the order. He was subsequently ordered to be arrested and detained.
“I dealt with the issue directly and thoroughly and ASP Jalloh has been warned seriously as such actions are no reason for the recruitment of police officers,” Charlie said.
With the matter now solved, he said the officer had apologized to the passenger who then asked that the matter be dropped.
Explaining her side of the story, ASP Marie Jalloh said that before the reopening of schools, the SLP had had an agreement with the Drivers’ Union to give preference to pupils in terms of transportation during the morning hours.
On that Thursday last week, she added, she wanted to help two pupils of the Vine Memorial Secondary School in their struggle to board a vehicle as they were already late for school.
She went on that she succeeded in stopping an empty taxi but other passengers rushed into it before it could reach the girls.
“I asked them to climb down from the taxi as I was the one that stopped it for the pupils. When they refused, I tapped one of them on the shoulder but he felt aggrieved at that and started using harsh words on me.” She said the passenger then got out of the taxi and pushed her. She said she ordered his arrest for “insult and assault of a police officer.”
She said she was later ordered by AIG Chris Charlie to release the passenger, “which I did. I was asked to report at the police headquarters on Monday and the matter was resolved by the AIG.”
ASP Jalloh said the matter had since been dropped.
“I am not a violent person and I don’t take the laws in my own hands. It was unfortunate that that incident ever occurred but I take it as a lesson in executing my duties,” she said.
But the said passenger, Ibrahim Kamara, told Politico that he had no idea the taxi had been stopped for the pupils by the police officer. He said it was a rush hour and he had no time to notice many things.
“She tapped me like twice on my shoulder and I reacted. We had an argument and we exchanged words before she ordered my arrest,” Kamara said. He said he was detained for about an hour before he was released on the intervention of AIG Charlie.
A businesswoman, who identified herself as Victoria Sesay, and a victim of police brutality and humiliation, commended AIG Charlie’s action on behalf of Kamara but described it as “bias and selective.”
“Everybody knows that AIG Memuna Konteh has been misbehaving all over the place but nothing has so far been said or done about her. Are you afraid of her or is she more powerful than the other AIG?” the businesswoman wondered.
She said the police action was unfair to the entire public, especially those who had felt the weight of AIG Memuna.
AIG Charlie told Politico that on several occasions he had appealed with police officers to desist from using excessive force in the execution of their duties. He said they should be polite, calm and soft spoken in their operations. “You can be calm and soft spoken, but at the same time charge and prosecute a suspect without malice,” the police boss said, pointing out that their personnel were from different backgrounds and their level of understandings varied.
At the top management level of the force, the AIG said they were doing their best to enable the officers understand modern day policing “but some people find it difficult to adapt to changes, no matter the opportunity.” He said they would keep pushing anyway.
© Politico 22/04/15
