Is current police demeanour is a threat or treat to Somaliland stability?

Hargeisa 15, March 2014 (SDN)- On March 10, 2014; the Somaliland police declined a written bail order issued by the Maroodi Jeex Regional Court Chief Mr. Faisal Abdillahi Ismail, commonly known as Dhego-dhego for the release of three suspects from Qudhac Dheer Police Station.

Again, the Maroodi Jeex Regional Court issued release on bail written order on March 11, 2014 , for one of the three suspects; possibly to avoid a potential friction between the court and police.  Again, the Police Chief of Mohamud Haybe sub-district, one of the 8 Hargeisa sub-districts, turned back to the court order of releasing the suspect, which is a local businessman.

The police brought Mr. Geele to the regional court on March 12, 2014; where the regional chief justice ordered his immediate release. Unfortunately, the police kept ignoring the court order stubbornly; where the police officers who escorted a number of suspects from Qudhac-dheer Police station to the regional court attempted to arrest the released suspect in front of the regional court.

This legal dispute escalated into a fist fighting, in front of the court, between the police and the suspect’s relatives and bystanders- who were shouting “if you (police) abandon from abiding the court decisions and orders, we (the public) will no longer consider you as a police and will take the uniform off from you by force”.

As consequence of this poor working relationship between the executive and judicial branches, the frustrated regional chief justice issued a warrant of arrest for Mohamud Haybe sub-district’s police chief for declining the court order.

These conflicting orders created a tension between the court-based police officers and Mohamud Haybe police officers, which lined up between the two disputed branches.

During that day, the court and its surroundings changed from a calm and lawful environment into a chaos and hostile environment- a typical war zone environment- which forced the court visitors and bystanders to flee into hide outs because of fear from violent armed clash between the pro-court police and Mohamud Haybe sub-district police.

Although, the ordeal was ended by the release of the suspect and the renegade sub-district police chief after high level informal negation of the two sides; in later time of that date, the police arrested the released suspect’s brother and held as a condition of the surrender of the court bailed brother, according to the newspapers, which published this incident on the headlines on Thursday, March 13, 2014.

As consequence, the Maroodi Regional Court suspended its working relationship with Mohamud Haybe sub-district’s police station until the police abide the legal working relationship between the two branches, according to local media reports.

If so, the fate of the detainees at Qudhac Dheer police station is dilemma because holding them indefinitely is a violation of habeas corpus, on one hand. Setting them free is the other extreme; which will turn Mohamud Haybe sub-district into anarchy controlled by jungle law.

Whether this report of court suspension to work with this sub-district’s police is true or not; these public and court frustration make the available facts reliable.

First, according to the data of public perception polling survey recently released by the Somaliland Good Governance and Anti-corruption Commission revealed the police as one of the corruption champion institutions in Somaliland.

Second, more than two third of the cases reported to the Somaliland police were withdrawn to civil adjudication as showed by the 2007 Somaliland police report published by the local media.

Third, out of 11 police stations and precincts in Hargeisa city, suspects in Qudhac Dheer police station suffered from the longest detention of 7 days on average, before taking to court or releasing the suspects, while the relevant Somaliland laws set 48 hours as the maximum period of holding suspect at police station without court order, according to a police operation pilot study report produced by the Ministry of Interior with the UNDP financial assistance and the technical support of local research institution in 2012.

These facts inspire the need of improving the Somaliland police working culture through the under process police law, and educating the public about their right and the mechanism to complain police misconduct and brutality to avoid a potential public perception of considering the police as a hostile institution, which could endanger the stability; and might also damage the country’s international prestige.

Finally, continuous crime and complain data collection, and periodic analysis and dissemination is vital for identifying what went right or wrong.

By Murtile Haji

Hargeisa, Somaliland