Police getting back on Par to Normal Routine

As you may realised that they use to take advantage of people not knowing the law and their individual rights. They thought that they were the "Law" itself. Take note of the phone number below.

Stop unlawful detentions

Ministry of Information

Aug 12|17:15 pm

In an effort to cut down on civil litigations against the Fiji Police Force all stations have been warned to produce persons in custody to appear in court or bail them within the  legal time frame.

The decision is aligned to the force becoming more operationally effective and efficient.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Isikeli Ligairi said cases of unlawful detentions of persons in custody was a concern.

The force has 66 cases of unlawful detention pending in court.

He advised all Divisional Police Commanders to impress upon officers in supervisory roles within stations like divisional crime officers, station officers and crime officers to constantly monitor the status of persons in custody.

The law prescribes 48 hours as the legally allowed time for a person to be in custody.

Keeping a person in custody longer than that must be with the approval of the court, especially for serious offences like murder.

“Arrest is about restraining a person’s movement and in the force we take care of all of the other person’s basic human right, the only right we restrict is movement and even then it has legal limitations,” Mr Ligairi said.

“The police procedure says that once an arrest is made, within 24 hours he/she must be produced in court and if more time is needed than the court must issue an order to remand the person for further investigations.

“For bench warrants it’s instant arrest – the officer has to confirm that the bench warrant issued is still in force – and when he/she is arrested in the morning to be produced in court by afternoon or the next day if arrested after 4.30pm.

“In relation to the escort of arrested persons from one division to another, if he/she is on a bench warrant there are provisions available for the person to be produced and bailed by a Suva court if it’s a Labasa case.

“But we find that this is not being widely practised and persons are locked up beyond the legal time leading the force to face liability through civil litigation.”

For further clarifications please contact Theresa Ralogaivau on 9906451.
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