Three senior detectives in the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Sierra Leone Police are currently on the PAOPA bully pulpit for granting bail to four suspects. The bail was a move the Inspector-General (IGP)of Police, Mr Ambrose Michael Sovula was less comfortable with.
As a result, heads rolled. Sovula sent a clear message that he was not part of the bail deal. He dissociated himself from an act he considered to be unlawful. Head, Deputy Head and Head of operations in the CID, Chief Superintendent John Alpha, SuperintendentTommy Sizer and Mohamed Kuba Allieu were immediately transferred from CID headquaters to various police divisions.
Mr Alpha is now the Local Unit Commander for Congo Cross Division while the other two officers now serve in different police formations. The three SPO’s are not only transferred but also investigated by CDIID (Complaints, Discipline and Internal Investigations Department), the disciplinary wing of the Sierra Leone Police.
According to a police source, the IGP took such actions because he was never informed about the bail. Investigation conducted by this press shows that the suspects were put on bail after the police discovered that no evidence existed that pointed to the culpability of the other four suspects.
Owing to government’s harassment and intimidation, the four suspects have been brought back. They were briefly detained before arraigned in a court in Freetown for a murder charge. They are now remanded in custody awaiting trial.
Their surety who is chairman of Coalition for Change (CFC), Sahr Tamba was arrested and detained in CID custody for perverting the course of justice. His release was premised on the condition that the suspects be brought back. He regained his freedom only after the four suspects were rearrested.
CFC is one of key opposition parties occupying eight seats in parliament. The party is also among 11 political parties that recently formed the Consortium of political parties with a stance to vote out SLPP in 2023. Senior officers who spoke to this press confirmed that the transfer and investigation of the officers is a complete bully.
One of them said the head of CID has the power to grant bail to any suspect especially when evidence adduced is weak for prosecution. He explained that the essence of bail is to prevent prolonged and unjustifiable detention of suspects.
“The more police detainsuspects unlawfully, the more they run the risk of abusing their rights,” the old detective explained.
In his argument, he made it clear that by granting bail, the police officers acted within their powers. The criminal procedure Act (CPA), 1965, an Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to criminal procedure made some clarifications about who should grant bail. The clarifications are found in section 29 and subsequent subsections.
“…The officer-in-charge of any police station, upon arrest of any person named in a warrant is brought, shall release upon his entering into such recognisance with sureties approved by such officers in accordance with endorsement conditioned for his appearance before the court, and at the time and place named in the recognisance,” Section 29(3) of CPA reads.
In sub-section 4, the law further states that the officer to whom the warrant is directed shall forward the recognisance to the court. The law in question does not specify the rank of a police officer that should grant bail.
According to the CPA, even a constable can grant bail as long as he is for the time being in charge of a police station. In most cases, suspects in police matters are brought to the police station on warrants. But, there are others who could be arrested without warrants.
The CPA identifies six conditions in section 13 in which a police officer can arrest without warrant. A person who commits any offence involving violence or dishonesty in a police officer’s presence can be arrested without warrant.
Almost invariably, any person who any other positively accuses of having committed any felony or any larceny, embezzlement, false pretences or receiving could also be roped in the absence of a warrant.
A police officer is also empowered to arrest any person who any other person suspects of having committed any felony or any misdemeanour if the suspicion of that other person appears to the constable to be well-founded among other powers.
The argument put forward by the old detective was put in a question form. If the law confers on a police officer in charge of a police station to grant bail, why not Head of CID who oversees all CID formations in the Sierra Leone Police. He said that all police operations are directed by statutes, policies and Force Standing Orders.
He further argues that any power exercised by a police officer that is within the ambits of the law should not be counteracted. A magistrate who is now a judge of the superior court of judicature (name withheld) once said in court that bail was discretional and not compulsory. The magistrate further explained that it is within the discretion of the court to grant bail or not to grant bail.
The same situation that applied to the court, he said, also applied to police stations. The magistrate made the legal analysis while presiding over a case between PMDC (People’s Movement for Democratic Change) supporter and a former SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) member of parliament.
The two politicians had a bitter encounter in a market place in the southern town of Pujehun over the sale of party T-shirts. The quarrel between the two led to the arrest and detention of the PMDC member. He was not granted bail at the police station and the magistrate court although the offences were bailable.
The murder offence for which the SPO’s are now bullied allegedly occurred in the eastern district of Kono where scuffles took place between SLPP and PMDC youths. Investigation by this press also shows that none of SLPP members in the violence was arrested.
The supporters were treated as sacred cows. Letting SLPP members and supporters out of police hook for crimes of political violence and thuggery is not a question of maverick on the part of the police, but usually come out fear of terrible PAOPA reprisals and vendettas. Transfer which was a normal routine in the police service is now a tool of tyranny and oppression. It is one of key methods employed by police authorities to lord it over other ranks.
It is most times used when police officers allegedly involve in disciplinary offences. Police officers are transferred immediately before investigation commences let alone arraigned before police tribunal. A number of police officers are languishing in remote communities out of mere vindictiveness.
Former Police Spokesman, Ibrahim Samura is now a shadow of his former self after he was transferred to Moyamba division without any office to man. The question is: if Head of CID Head and his assistants are investigated for granting bail, why crime officers, line managers, officers commanding various police stations and even local unit commanders are not investigated for granting bail.