The mindset of police is changing, the head of the Interior Ministry’s legal affairs department said Sunday. Officers think of themselves as serving the people, not having power over them, he said.
Ali Mohamed Abdel Mawla said during his meeting with a Parliament committee that police officers suffered more than citizens under the former regime of Hosni Mubarak, and that conditions at the ministry are better than they were before the 25 January revolution.
Abdel Mawla said the ministry’s legal affairs department is adopting new ideas and policies.
The problem is not with police curricula, he said, but with how officers deal with citizens.
He said he approves of the amendment to Article 126 of the Penal Code, which defines torture, particularly a part that is understood to permit officers to use violence on suspects to elicit confessions from them.
The deterioration of the relationship between people and the police was one of the triggers of the 25 January revolution.
The security void in the early days of the revolution and intermittent clashes with security forces during protests in downtown Cairo have exacerbated the rift.
A recent violence following a football match between Egypt’s top club Ahly and Port Said’s Masry team that left 74 people dead was largely blamed on police negligence and lax security measures.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
