Police "Bonus" System for Custodies and Arrests?

"How big a 'bonus' did police officers receive for the operations related to the Union of Kurdish Communities (KCK), Oda TV or Eregenkon?"

This is a question asked by opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Melda Onur to the Minister of the Interior, İdris Naim Şahin, in a parliamentary question.

In her petition Onur reminded the fact that the "Scoreboard of the Preventive Services Office Directorship" included the application of various reward points to be granted to police officers for taking perpetrators into custody.

As an example Onur referred to a news item initially reported on the "Polis-haber" ('police-news') website on 21 June 2010 and later on on the website of the Hürriyet newspaper:

"A bonus system was introduced to the Preventive Services and Security Task Forces upon the arrival of Hüseyin Çapkın at the Istanbul Police Directorate. Accordingly, police officers who gathered a total of 670 points for an impressive performance were appointed to operational branches whereas police officers with a low bonus of 300 points were assigned to guard posts at remote places".

Onur quoted the "polis-haber" site and said that various crimes like murder, theft etc. were categorized in the three columns "name of crime", "score" and "potential arrest". "A murder for instance would gain 1000 points and pick-pocketing 50 points [to the score of a police officer]", she explained.

In addition, the document included ambiguous definitions such as "transvestite", "known woman", "Law of Misdemeanours" or "resisting a police officer (target group", Onur emphasized.

"This sort of application is frequently being mentioned as a method of the police organization that might lead to inventing crime and a criminal instead of providing security to the citizens. It might even lead to arbitrary custodies".

"Furthermore, the term 'transvestite' added to the terms defined as 'crimes' acknowledges the existence of trans-sexuality as a crime. Inexplicit terms like "known woman", "Law of Misdemeanours" or "resisting a police officer (target group)" fuel concern about a broad arbitrary area [of interpretation] given to the police forces", Onur underlined.

Deputy Onur addressed Minister Şahin with the following questions:

* How is the points system working when the scoreboard is being applied? How are the gathered points being evaluated?

* How is the problem of arbitrary custodies being prevented within a system where custodies without arrest are being rewarded? What about the points for custodies resulting in release?

* Are any precautions being taken to avoid an arbitrary application that is aimed at increasing the personal score of a police officer with a low score?

"How can you define trans-sexuality as a 'crime'"?

* Being a transvestite or a transgender individual is not a crime according to Turkish laws and international agreements. On the basis of which legislation did your ministry define "transvestite" as a crime?

* What is the de facto meaning of the term "known woman" as mentioned in the scoreboard? What is the scope of the application of the "Law on Misdemeanors"? Who is being included in the "target group" as indicated in the "resisting a police officer (target group)" and how is this going to be defined?

* Were these bonus points valid for operations related to trials with a high number of custodies and arrests such as Sledgehammer, Revolutionary Headquarter, Ergenekon, Hopa, KCK or Oda TV? How many bonus points did the police officers who were involved in the custodies and arrests gather in total? (AS)