New research detailing how Romanian authorities pretend to punish police officers who commit abuses against citizens has recently been published by the Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Romania - the Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH).

The research was carried out from February to June 2015, as part of the "Eyes on police abuse" project. It revealed that between 2012 and 2014, only 14 of the 3,034 criminal complaints of abuse made by citizens against police officers reached the courts.

It also revealed that in the same period, the General Inspectorate of Romanian Police received 3,301 complaints of abusive police behavior, but disciplinary sanctions were handed down in only 47 of these cases, or about 1 in every 70 complaints.

The data used by APADOR-CH was obtained through requests for public data submitted to prosecutors' offices from each county, to county police inspectorates, to the Superior Council of Magistracy and to the General Inspectorate of Romanian Police (IGRP).

IGPR refused to disclose information of public interest and we needed to intervene through an administrative complaint and an action in court.

No steps to prevent abuse

The research showed that police forces do not make sufficient use of the means of their disposal to prevent abuses or help uncover them, such as the installation of video cameras in police stations, which would require little cost.

Moreover, police do not take steps to inform citizens about their rights. Police officers illegally refuse to disclose the procedures related to asking for IDs, to fingerprinting and to body searches, for example.

The fact that citizens do not know about these procedures means arbitrary actions can be taken by the officers and abuses are more likely to happen.

More cameras, please

This secrecy can be interpreted as a desire to maintain the police force as a repressive force instead of a more citizen-oriented institution.

APADOR-CH has asked the Superior Council of Magistracy to initiate an investigation in relation to police abuse investigations carried out in previous years by prosecutors.

The organization also asked IGRP and the Ministry of Interior to urgently allocate the funding required to implement surveillance systems in all police stations.

Police abuse, even when there is no physical violence, but there is, for example, usage of offensive language, constitutes a crime which can be punished by fine or imprisonment for one to six months. If it turns out that a police officer exercising his or her duties resorts to threats or physical violence, the sanction to be applied shall be one-third more extensive than the punishment provided for the specific offense.

The full report can be read here. You can also read more about the "Eyes on police abuse" project, as well as about the rights of people taken to police stations and on the options available to victims of police abuse.