There is a fact that everyone really needs to come to grips with. At least, everyone who would like to see this rudderless country extricate itself from a law and order situation that has become all but untenable. Beating people up is not, and never will be, the solution. Moreover, policemen who indulge in acts of violence simply give impetus to the prevailing mayhem and weaken the due process of law.

This basic principle offers us at least a scrap of knowledge. And, if knowledge really is power, then it is possible to suggest that the acceptance of its validity will set us in good stead in our battle against one of society?s great injustices. By indulging in violence, the State is simply degrading its citizens and, by extension, conferring an absurd legitimacy on the criminal class.

Police brutality is not the work of a few rotten apples or the result of, as the National commission of human rights (NHRC) once called it, ?old habits?. It is seen as a way of getting the job done. Even if this sometimes leads to innocent people getting beaten up and criminals getting off the hook on legal technicalities. Its demise is thus long overdue.

Statistics the world over prove that the correlation between repression and a decrease in criminal activity is flimsy at best. In fact, states in the US that exercise the ultimate form of repression, namely the death penalty, are amongst the ones with the worst crime rates.

The only golden correlation is the one that links unemployment to criminality. Tackling the former is the only effective way of stifling the latter. There is no short cut to a successful society. And, unless the decision-makers latch onto this, crime will spread its tentacles into every aspect of Mauritian life.

It may seem facile, and indeed pretentious, for me to criticize the way certain members of our esteemed police force choose to conduct their business. A business that is stressful at best and dangerous at worst.

Yet it is obvious that not only is crime on the rise but it is increasingly being characterized by acts of the most heinous and barbaric nature. No amount of police violence will stem the flow of this disturbing phenomenon. Pretending otherwise will only result in more crime, more deaths in police custody and, possibly, civil unrest. The first two are bad options, are bad enough, but the third is utterly nightmarish.

Naturally, safeguards against excessive police zeal are required. We often harp on the need to change mentalities, yet there are opportunities for institutional reform that, if seized, could go a long way towards dampening the enthusiasm of heavy-handed policemen. To start with, officers suspected of brutality should be suspended and confessions obtained in the absence of a judge rejected. It would also be heartening to have a more vocal and visible NHRC. It has done well in its first few years, but the time has perhaps come to up the ante.

Finally, the needs of the police force need to be addressed. Its members need better equipment, training and working conditions. Its members must be allowed to unionize.

Resistance to change is always strong. But refusal to change is fatal.