Former Director of Public Prosecutions and lawyer Aca Rayawa is calling for emergency measures to strengthen police powers in response to what he described as a breakdown in law and order.
In a post shared online, Rayawa said he believes Fiji has “crossed the threshold into Crime Control mode,” arguing that extraordinary steps are now required to restore discipline and public safety.
He called for an Emergency Regulation to be passed under the Public Order Act, which he said should temporarily suspend certain protections afforded to criminal suspects under the Bill of Rights in the 2013 Constitution.
According to Rayawa, such a regulation would provide police officers with greater freedom and legal protection to use force, “lethal or otherwise,” on a temporary basis to bring the country back into what he described as “some semblance of order and discipline.”
