HELA Police Command has convened the province’s first ever Prosecution Review Committee aimed at reviewing monthly court files, as the Command moves to lift conviction rates and hold officers accountable for cases lost in the court.
The committee will meet monthly to review all files that goes before the court -including murder, tribal fight, sorcery-related violence, rape, and armed robbery cases reported in the province.
The committee is comprised of Police Station Commander (PSC) Tari, PSC Komo, PSC Koroba, PSC Magarima, Officer in Charge (OIC) of Criminal Investigations, OIC Traffic, Highway Patrol Commander, Commander for Mobile Squad nine (9), and Tari Shift coordinator so every unit that arrests and charges in the province sits at the same table as the prosecutors who must carry its files into court.
Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Inspector Arau Mairi said the aim is simple: stop losing good cases because of poor files.
“For far too long, suspects walk free not because they are innocent, but because our files are weak. That ends now.
“Every file that is lost in court will be reviewed. If an officer failed to collect evidence, failed to get a proper statement, or failed to attend court, he/she will be held accountable,” PPC Mairi said.
The committee will sit every month to:
• monitor and analyse the province’s prosecution statistics each month — arrests, charges laid, cases listed, convictions, acquittals and files pending so that the Command and Police Headquarters know Hela’s real conviction rate;
• review every case dismissed, withdrawn or struck out in the National and District Courts in the preceding month, and every case in which no evidence was offered or no prosecution action followed an arrest, to determine whether the case could have been better investigated or prosecuted;
• review cases in which a civilian or police witness failed to attend court, in which an investigating officer failed to comply with a Case Status Notice, or in which a court made adverse comment on the conduct of a police officer or prosecutor;
• identify the common defects in court files submitted by the stations, return defective files to the station of origin for completion within a set time, and arrange short workshops to correct the recurring faults;
• check that bail certificates, antecedent reports and charge sheets are correctly completed and that warrants of arrest and case files are securely held; and
• recommend to the Commander, and through him to the Assistant Commissioner, disciplinary action where a file has been neglected, a witness not arranged or a court appearance missed, and report the Committee’s findings monthly through the chain of command to the Director Prosecutions.
PPC Mairi said during their first sitting the Committee has received the Prosecutions monthly report for the period from 23rd September to 23rd October 2026 and began the review of cases dismissed, withdrawn and not proceeded within that period.
PPC also noted that some arresting officers in the province were still charging drug offences under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which was repealed on 31 March 2022 and replaced by the Controlled Substance Act 2021 where all stations have been directed to charge under the current Act with immediate effect.
“The Committee is not a court-martial but their first job is to find out why they lose cases and to fix it again,” PPC said, adding that he said the committee’s monthly reports will be forwarded to the Assistant Commissioner of Police Highlands Western End and to the Director Prosecutions at Police Headquarters after every monthly sitting.
