Make the case stick, police are told

About 200 police and soldiers took part in a Monday workshop organised by the police legal affairs chief, Pol Lt General Amporn Charujinda, to look into the inadequate nature of the police work in the restive region.

Hundreds of suspected insurgents are detained in military camps and local jails but most are acquitted when their case goes to trial.

Kitja Ali-ishoh, who heads the Muslim Attorney Center (Mac), has said the attorney general could do more to help by demanding that the police compile more solid evidence that would hold up in court.

Knowing that the attorney office is not likely to reject, police have used threaten suspect with a lengthy period of detention before the case make it to the court, Kitja said.

Amporn said officers have to do more in distinguishing sound and unsound evidences, as well as prioritise their work in evidence gathering in order to make the case stick.

Extremely few eyewitnesses co-operate with the police. Authorities said many would help insurgents by destroying physical evidences.

Much of the attack against security forces and civilians are carried out in front of the local residents, many of whom shared the insurgents' resentment towards the state even though they may or may not agreed with the militants' brutal tactics.

The ongoing violence in the region has claimed more than 3,000 lives, mostly Malay Muslims, in this restive region since January 2004.