publicagendanews.com

 Rescue Alternative Liberia (RAL), a pro-democracy and rights advocacy group has called for a radical overhaul of Liberia’s Criminal Justice system and the Rule of Law where, according to the organization, penalty for crime will commensurate with the gravity of the offense committed.
  The anti-torture and prison reform group has frowned on what it sees as a new wave of police brutality inadvertently permeating the criminal justice system of the country, noting that police brutality is a grotesque phenomenon that depicts a dangerous picture of the system of governance and rule of law as Liberia transitions from chaos to lasting peace and tranquility.
  RAL said it is quite unspeakably excruciating and intolerable that while Liberians are gradually forgetting the imprints of mayhem and bad governance of the past, there are still bad elements within the criminal justice system, making specific reference to the Liberian National Police (LNP) who, according to RAL, is bent on digging into old wounds.
  The organization’s call comes in the wake of recent incident on the Capital Bye Pass where Amos Tutu, a former officer of the Police Support Unit (PSU) of the LNP reportedly shot and killed a former officer of the LNP.
  RAL, in a release issued in Monrovia recently, described the incident as unfortunately diabolical, unprofessional and rash and the organization has therefore called on the LNP authority to speed up with the investigation and undertake preventive measures to deter a reoccurrence of similar incident.
   Meanwhile, RAL has also deplored as a total affront to the rule of law, the mob attack and subsequent burning to death of the late officer Tutu, something the group noted is a travesty of justice.
    “No matter how bitter we are, the only source of social control that regulates and directs social patterns and defines people’s action as good or bad is the law and not raw anger or naked violence,” the group concluded.
   Some observers spoke to this paper regarding the criminal justice system suggesting that more needs to be done to restore public confidence in the system. They noted that the public must see the criminal justice system as a friend or a protection for them against the criminals. In order to achieve this image, they opined, more awareness need to given to the public which must include respect for the police and all uniformed officers. The police, on the other hand, they advised, should be told to exhibit more of their ethical and professional standards while dealing with the people of a traumatized society. Gradually, they said, the level of understanding between the two groups of citizens will begin to improve.