South Sudan Police Act (CR 07-001)

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SOUTH SUDAN POLICE ACTINPROL Consolidated Response (07-001)

With contributions from Vivienne OConnor, Colette Rausch, Ali Saleem, Christina Jones-Pauly,

ONeil Pouliot, Teuta Gashi

Prepared by Scott Worden


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INPROL is a project of the United States Institute of Peace with facilitation support from the Center of Excellence for Stability

Police Units, the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, and the Public International Law & Policy Group.

SOUTH SUDAN POLICE ACTINPROL Consolidated Response (07-001)

January 4, 2007

Submitted by: Jeremy Mull, UNMIS UNPOL Legal Adviser

Drafted by: Scott Worden, INPROL Rule of Law Facilitator

With contributions from:

1. Vivienne OConnor, Irish Center for Human Rights

2. Colette Rausch, Deputy Director, Rule of Law Program, U.S. Institute of Peace3. Ali Saleem, former UNTAET Police Advisor (East Timor)

4. Christina Jones-Pauly, Sudan Program, USIP5. O Neil Pouliot, Police Forum Facilitator, INPROL

6. Teuta Gashi, Knowledge Management Analyst, INPROL

The full text of the responses provided by these INPROL members can be found athttp://www.inprol.org/node/1554.INPROL invites further comment by members.Note: All opinions stated in this consolidated response have been made in a personal capacity

and do not necessarily reflect the views of particular organizations. INPROL does not explicitlyadvocate policies.
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January 2007 INPROL Consolidated Response (07-001) Page 1 of 3

SOUTH SUDAN POLICE ACT

Background:

The UN is helping the government of South Sudan to draft a Police Act that willenumerate powers and duties of state and local police. The South Sudan legal systemhas common law roots and the Sudanese drafters seek to draw from model experience

in the region as well as relevant best practices from other transitional scenarios. Chiefamong the key issues is the distribution of power between State and local police forces.

Query:

Are there available model police acts, or acts from other countries that would provide a

useful example to aid in the drafting of the new South Sudan code? Does anyone have

experience from drafting police acts in similar circumstances that provide useful lessons

learned?

Response Summary:

A wide variety of police acts are available for use as drafting models; the trick is to

identify ones that fit the type of legal system used in the drafting country and the rolesdifferent types of police are expected to have there.

The key variables to consider are the type of legal system (common law, civil law,

Sharia, or a hybrid); the division of labor among different police units (such as the use of judicial police or gendarmes, and whether national/state/local divisions will haveseparate or concurrent jurisdictions); and the style of law that will be drafted (i.e. does

the law state broad powers and then rely on separate implementing regulations, or doesthe law act like Standard Operating Procedures and explicitly state how police are to do

their jobs). Whatever the context, the answers to these questions must be clearly

resolved in the Act.

As a basic model, a number of police organizations throughout the world have adopted

the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (Adopted by General Assembly

resolution 34/169 of 17 December 1979)as part of their administrative procedures. TheUN Code can be considered a baseline of applicable police standards and consideration

should be given to incorporating it into a Police Act or Regulations.

More specifically, South Sudans legal system is based roughly on the British common

law model. In that vein, the UK Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) and itsaccompanying practice notes provide a good resource in terms of police procedure inthe sphere of criminal investigation. Importantly, the legislation is very clear and theaccompanying practice guidelines are comprehensive and straightforward.

The South Sudanese also look to South Africa as a policing model, with many SouthSudanese officers having received training in South Africa. Thus the South African

Police Act (SAPA) could be a useful model. The SAPA offers a comprehensivedescription of police duties, including detailed provisions on establishment of an
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overseeing police commission and secretariat, appointment of officers andadministrators, promulgation of specific police regulations, conditions of employment,and disciplinary measures.

As a newly autonomous entity in a developing country, however, there are clearly

significant practical differences between South Sudan and more developed police

systems.

East Timor and Kosovo present comparative transitional models, having recently revisedtheir police laws and produced Standard Operating Procedures governing police

conduct. (Note, however, that the final Kosovo Police Act is not available yet as it is

circulating in a form of a Draft amongst OSCE, UNMIK and Kosovo government officialsfor further feedback.) The East Timor Police Act provides an alternative example,although its Standard Operating Procedures and the Internal Security Act are not

publicly available.

As a final point, consideration should always be given to incorporating principles ofhuman rights law and humanitarian law into Police Acts or Regulations. These

principles include proportionality in the use of force, freedom from arbitrary detention,and clear prohibitions of abusive conduct from the point of arrest through confinement

and interrogation.

A wide range of other Police Acts and related Standard Operating Procedures are alsoavailable online at the INPROL site, listed in the Resources section below.

________________

Compilation of Resources:

This Consolidated Response draws from many of the following resources, which are

useful reference tools for policing practitioners. All listed documents with a hyperlink areuploaded to the INPROL Digital Library unless otherwise noted.

UK Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE)

1995 South Africa Police Act

East Timor Internal Security Act (Not Publicly Available)

East Timor Police Act

The Draft East Timor Internal Security Act and Draft East Timor Police SOPs are not yetpublicly available.

Kosovo

The UNMIK Police Manual and an additional document that breaks down its constituent

components are presently being drafted, but may not become publicly available untilfurther determinations have been made with regard to Kosovos final status talks.
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Likewise, advisors are currently drafting Principles for Democratic Policing' for use inBosnia and Herzegovina and accompanying Commissioner Guidance, which are not yetpublic pending further review.

Model Codes

UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials Adopted by General AssemblyResolution 34/169 of 17 December 1979

Police Acts can be found in the INPROL Digital Library under Police Related Rules and

Regulations

Slovakia Police Law

Romania Police Act

Poland Law on Police

Hungarian Police Act

Bulgaria Police Act

Canada Police Act

Malaysia Police Act Police Act of Slovenia

Model German Police Act

Finland Police Act

Note: All opinions stated in this consolidated reply have been made in a personal capacityand do not necessarily reflect the views of particular organizations. INPROL does notexplicitly advocate policies.

Information:

New Queries: To send a new query, please send an email to [email protected].

Documents: To submit a document to INPROL, please login to INPROL and visithttp://www.inprol.org/uploadcontent or send an email (with the document attached) to

[email protected].
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