Umar: Only power allowed police is to issue parking stickers, they are doing that

Former Home Minister Umar Naseer states the police today have been stripped of all powers, except to go out into the streets and issue parking stickers. 

Umar’s comments come amid a rise in crimes involving kidnapping, extortion and muggings in the Maldivian capital - linked with drugs. Police have been hit with criticism over failure to prevent such crimes. 

In an exclusive interview to Sun, Umar said that the some 4,000 police officers in Maldives had been rendered powerless. He said that the police would be dragged to four institutions if they dared to take action. 

“There are now four layers for police oversight. The first layer is an internal committee established within the police. The second layer is the Police Integrity Commission. The third layer is the Human Rights Commission. The fourth layer is the Police Board established by the current administration. With this, the police have been left paralyzed. They have been practically rendered powerless,” he said. 

Umar said that over the past 15 years, the police have been gradually stripped of their powers with each new law and regulation. 

He said that as the power of the police are stripped, criminals gain more power.  

This is what’s happening now, he said. 

“So they have lost all powers of law enforcement. That’s why people are being snatched off the streets and held hostage. That’s why the elderly are being beaten. Why they are out of their minds on drugs. This is the cause for all this, truth be told,” he said. 

Umar said the only way to solve the issue is to restore powers of the police, and for the state to monitor the measures that are taken, including ensuring the court process is expedited. 

The only way to establish peace and security in Maldives is to restore powers to the police, he said. 

Umar said that neighboring India has some billion people, but the police to population ratio is far lower than in Maldives. He said that the powers granted to police in India make the people afraid and hesitant to commit crime. 

Umar, who has announced he intends to run in the presidential elections in 2023 as an independent candidate, his first act in office if elected would be to restore powers to the police, and the second would be to solve the issue of people living in the streets. 

“The state has the resources to manage this. But the state doesn’t have ideas. The state doesn’t have the will to manage this. The people will see a significant change in peace and security in Maldives just six months. And they will say yes, there is a change,” he said.