2007年VOA标准英语-Liberians Fight Police Brutality

By Naomi Schwarz
Dakar
28 May 2007

civilian1 police train Liberian National<br />Police cadets (File)" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070607/1059310.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

UNMIL's civilian police train Liberian National Police cadets (File)

Some Liberians say police brutality³ is on the rise, and it is setting the country back in its path to reconstruction⁴. The government is investigating the allegations, but says whether or not there have been abuses, they have been working hard to improve the security sector⁵ since the end of the civil war. Naomi Schwarz has more on the story from our regional bureau in Dakar, with additional reporting by Prince Collins in Liberia.

Donzo Kamara is a commercial driver in Liberia's capital, Monrovia. He says he likes his job, but lately he has been frustrated⁶ by demands for bribes⁷ from national police force.

"You have police on the street collecting money from taxi drivers, which is not necessary. It is good to issue them a ticket and let them pay for their wrong," said Kamara.

Abraham Diggs, a Liberian businessman who is petitioning the government to take action, says bribes are just the beginning. He says police tactics are brutal² and excessive, reminiscent of the days of Liberia's former dictator and militia⁸ leader, Charles Taylor.

"It has been alarming, because citizens continue to be afraid," said Diggs. "In fact some of them are recounting the days of Mr. Taylor because those were some of the attributes of Mr. Taylor, those are some of the things that made so many people flee from this country and we hope they will not be a replica⁹ of Mr. Taylor's regime."

According to a recent report in a Liberian newspaper, five uniformed officers and one plain-clothed policeman beat a taxidriver while trying to arrest him for wearing inappropriate shoes. The newspaper said police then threatened to arrest journalists on the scene.

Not all Liberians are convinced there is a problem. "Your term of brutality in the western sense would not really fit us here," said James Makor, the director of the Save My Future human rights organization.

Makor says there is a lot of crime in Liberia, and in order to keep the situation under control police officers do not always have the luxury of following procedures fully¹⁰. He gives an example of a market in the capital that he says suffers from a lot of theft.

"People there do not feel secure with these guys. There are a lot of people that are unemployed¹¹ that are snatching phones from people, and their vehicles and things like that. So if there is a crackdown on them, for me I feel happy because they would tend to disappear from the area for some time," he explained.

But Alfred Quayjandii, coordinator¹² of the National Human Rights Center of Liberia, says the problem is the way police treat civilians¹³ in routine interactions, not their treatment of criminals during an arrest.

"We are saying that sometimes when we are dealing¹⁴ with a civil issue, they brutalize people, they brutalize a suspect," he said.

Mavola Weah, a student leader in Monrovia, worries the brutality could set back the whole pace of reconstruction and development.

"Investors¹⁵ want to come here now to make business. Now the one thing that you have is that if police brutalizes citizens, it makes investors afraid to come," said Weah.

Liberia's civil war ended in 2003. Since then, the government has worked with the United Nations and other international organizations to retrain their police force for peacetime service. Gabriel Williams, Liberia's Vice¹⁶ Information Minister, says the process is ongoing¹⁷.

"It takes time for these people to be reconditioned in terms of their operation with respect to how they need to function in a democratic society," said Williams. "It is a challenge for all of us, but we are working to ensure that the security forces conform to the operation where the rights of people will be protected."

Williams says in the meantime, they have commissioned an independent committee to determine if police officers have crossed the line and abused innocent civilians. The government will decide if and how to address the issue based on the results of that investigation¹⁸, which are scheduled to be delivered within a few weeks. Alvin Jacks¹⁹, spokesman for the Liberian National Police says the investigation will exonerate²⁰ the officers.

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

3 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

4 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

5 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

8 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

9 replica   

n.复制品

参考例句：

• The original conservatory has been rebuilt in replica.温室已按原样重建。
• The young artist made a replica of the famous painting.这位年轻的画家临摹了这幅著名的作品。

10 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

11 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

12 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

13 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

14 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

15 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

16 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

17 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

18 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

19 jacks   

n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃

参考例句：

• Hydraulic jacks under the machine produce the movement. 是机器下面的液压千斤顶造成的移动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The front end is equipped with hydraulic jacks used for grade adjustment. 前瑞安装有液压千斤顶用来调整坡度。 来自辞典例句

20 exonerate   

v.免除责任，确定无罪

参考例句：

• Nothing can exonerate her from that.任何解释都难辞其咎。
• There is no reason to exonerate him from the ordinary duties of a citizen.没有理由免除他做公民应尽的义务。