Nampol Human Rights Training Manual

LEGAL ASSISTANCE CENTRE ISBN 99916‐740‐7‐1 Namibian Police Human Rights Manual ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This manual incorporates substantial extracts from Human Rights and Law Enforcement: A Manual on Human Rights Training for the Police, published by the United Nations. Other sections of Human Rights and Law Enforcement have been adapted to conform to the Namibian situation and incorporated in this manual. The following sections in particular are either extracts from this work, or adapted from the corresponding sections in Human Rights and Law Enforcement: • chapter objectives and essential principles at the beginning of each chapter; • most of the introductions and conclusions to each chapter; • chapter 1 (effective training techniques); • most of the exercises and topics for discussion at the end of each chapter; • the section on the management of confidential informants in chapter 5 (criminal investigations); • the sections on interviewing techniques and on control measures at the start of and during detention in chapter 7 (detention). Some of the exercises and topics for discussion have been extracted from Ralph Crawshaw, Human Rights Training: Special Volume for Law Enforcement Officials, published by the Commonwealth Secretariat. It has not been possible to acknowledge these sources by using footnotes, because this would have been inappropriate in a publication of this nature. The publication of this manual was funded by the Commission of the European Communities, who support the work of the Legal Assistance Centre by funding the Centre’s Constitutional and Human Right Unit. Most of the writing was completed while I was on sabbatical leave at the International Centre for the Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS), London. This visit was made possible by a grant from the International Human Rights Internship Programme, New York. I wish to express my gratitude to the donors and to Emma Playfair, the executive director of INTERIGHTS and other staff members, who ensured that my time at INTERIGHTS was enjoyable and productive. Police agencies in Canada and South Africa kindly sent me considerable volumes of training materials. I wish to thank in particular Rick Parent of the Provincial Police Academy of the Justice Institute of British Columbia and Al Cook and Terry Friday of the Canadian Centre for Police-Race Relations, for their keen interest in the project. I further wish to thank the participants from the Namibian Police at a discussion workshop on the manual held in November 1998. The persons present helped enormously by contributing practical suggestions and making critical comments on the content of the manual. Clinton Light August 1999 i Namibian Police Human Rights Manual CITATION OF LAW REPORTS AND ABBREVIATIONS The citation of law reports and statutes is unavoidable, but has been kept to a minimum to make the text more readable. A case reference is made up of a number of parts. For example, the reference to S v Acheson 1991 NR 1 (HC); 1991 (2) SA 805 (Nm) can be understood as follows: S v Acheson: The name of the case. “S” is an abbreviation for “State”, which indicates that the case is a criminal prosecution. 1991 NR 1 (HC); 1991 (2) SA 805 (Nm): This will differ, depending on the law report, but generally the first number will be the date, the second number (if any) will refer to a volume, the letters to a particular law report, the number to a page number and the final letters in brackets to the court, in this case the High Court of Namibia. This case is reported in both the Namibian Law Reports and the South African Law Reports and therefore both references are given. The following abbreviations for law reports are used in the text: All ER All England Reports BCLR Butterworths Constitutional Law Reports (South Africa) CRR Canadian Rights Reporter NR Namibian Law Reports PH Prentice Hall (South Africa) R & N Rhodesia and Nyasaland Reports SA South African Law Reports US United States Supreme Court Reporter The name of a judge who delivered the judgment in a case is often given. For example Mahomed AJA delivered the judgment in Acheson’s case. The abbreviation after the judge’s surname reflects the status of the judge, as follows: J Judge AJ Acting Judge i.e. a judge appointed for a period of time JP Judge President (in Namibia, the head of the High Court) AJP Acting Judge President JA Judge of Appeal i.e. a judge sitting in an appeal court, such as the Supreme Court of Namibia or the Appellate Division (South Africa), now the Supreme Court of Appeals AJA Acting Judge of Appeal CJ Chief Justice ii Namibian Police Human Rights Manual ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I CITATION OF LAW REPORTS AND ABBREVIATIONS II EFFECTIVE TRAINING TECHNIQUES 1 HUMAN RIGHTS AND POLICING 9 ETHICAL STANDARDS IN POLICING 23 NON-DISCRIMINATION AND POLICING 29 CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS 37 ARREST 50 DETENTION 72 ENTRY, SEARCH AND SEIZURE 103 USE OF FORCE AND FIREARMS 121 LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE PROTECTION OF JUVENILES 136 POLICING AND THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN 142 PROTECTION OF THE VICTIMS OF CRIME 151 BIBLIOGRAPHY 165 iii Namibian Police Human Rights Manual CHAPTER 1 EFFECTIVE TRAINING TECHNIQUES A. Introduction It is important that training be directed not only at the transfer of information, but at changing the attitudes and therefore the behaviour of participants. Trainers are likely to encounter some resistance from participants to the idea of policing based on the application of human rights standards. Resistance or opposition, whether expressed or not, may take the form of one or more of the following statements: • observing human rights in policing is all very well in theory, but it does not work in practice; • observing human rights in policing hinders the police in the execution of their duties; • criminals do not follow rules, why should we? • only a criminal has human rights, what about a police officer or a victim? The purpose of this Manual is to respond to these criticisms and to provide trainers with the information to prepare courses that are meaningful for participants and that are relevant to the everyday work of the participants. B. Learning objectives The objectives of the trainer are to facilitate satisfaction of the needs of the trainee. That being the case, three basic learning objectives form the foundation of this programme and mirror the following three educational needs of participants in all police training programmes: - To receive information and develop knowledge - on what human rights and humanitarian standards are, and what they mean; - To acquire or reinforce skills - so that the functions of the Namibian Police and the duties of members can be fulfilled effectively with due respect for human rights. Simple knowledge of standards is not enough to enable police to transfer those rules into appropriate operational behaviour. The acquisition of skills is to be viewed as a process, as skills are fine-tuned through practice and application. This process may therefore need to be continued, in the light of training needs identified in specific areas of police work, through further training programmes; - To become sensitised, i.e. to undergo a change in (negative) or to reinforce (positive) attitudes and hence behaviour - so that law 1 Namibian Police Human Rights Manual enforcement officials accept, or continue to accept, the need to promote and protect human rights, and actually do so in the course of their duties. The subjects here are the values of the law enforcement officer. This, too, is a long-term process to be reinforced by further training and by appropriate command and management practices. Thus effective training will aim to improve: knowledge + skills + attitudes to contribute to: appropriate behaviour C. The participatory method The effectiveness of the participatory method is summarised by an old Persian proverb: Tell me – I forget Show me – I remember Involve me – I understand For maximum effect, the following principles should be applied so as to ensure the maximum participation by trainees in training programmes: Interactive - This programme implies the use of a participatory, interactive training method. Police, like other adult training audiences, most readily absorb course curricula when they are not spoon-fed the material. Rather, for effective training, the trainees should be fully involved in the process. As practitioners, trainees will bring to the course a rich pool of experience, which must be actively drawn on to make an interesting and effective course. Flexible - Contrary to certain myths associated with police training, it is not advisable to adopt a "military" approach and order trainees to participate. The result of such techniques is, more often than not, resentment among trainees and, consequently, the closing of avenues of communication between trainer and trainee. While a certain level of control should be maintained by the trainer, the first rule should be flexibility. Questions, even challenges, from the audience should be welcomed, and should be addressed by trainers in a positive and forthright manner. Similarly, excessively rigid timekeeping can leave participants feeling frustrated and resentful. 2 Namibian Police Human Rights Manual Adult learning is most effective when the participants are involved in defining their learning objectives. The trainer should therefore at the outset ask participants what expectations they have of the workshop and what information they require from the process. Relevant - The unspoken question of the trainee throughout the course will be: "What does this have to do with my daily work?" The extent to which trainers continuously answer this question will be an important factor in their success. Every effort must therefore be made to ensure that all material presented is relevant to the work of the audience, and that such relevance is made clear where it is not self- evident. This task may be easier when addressing operational themes, such as arrest or the use of firearms.

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