I want to stand up this policeman
A defamation investigation has been opened against me for expressing my anger at a shopkeeper who offers chick meat, which I find cruel. The case was assigned to a police officer who had already intervened two years earlier in proceedings against my son and me for eating some chocolate eggs in a supermarket without paying for them... That story had nothing to do with the one I'm currently dealing with, and fortunately the proceedings were closed. However, the police officer had certain preconceptions about me and the ideas I defend, so I'm wondering whether it's possible to remove him from this new investigation.
J., Meyrin
It is possible to challenge a police officer, but the chances of success are slim.
Under Swiss law, police officers are part of the criminal authorities (art. 12 let. a of the Code of Criminal Procedure), and they are subject to the rules on disqualification, which allow a member of an authority to be excluded from proceedings for lack of impartiality, for example when the person concerned has a personal interest in the case, family ties or other special ties, or is acting under different hats in the same case.
However, as the Federal Supreme Court has explained in its case law, the requirements of impartiality expected of a police officer are less stringent than those that apply to judges or prosecutors. In concrete terms, only serious and repeated errors or manifestly biased behaviour can give rise to an appearance of bias sufficient to remove a police officer from an investigation.
In practice, behaviours such as refusal to register a complaint, one-sided presentation of the facts in a report, failure to seek out witnesses or negligence in seizing evidence may be cited, but they are generally not sufficient on their own to demonstrate a lack of impartiality. It is also necessary to prove that the unacceptable actions of which the police officer is accused are directly related to the current investigation. Finally, a challenge cannot be based solely on mere suspicion or subjective feelings.
In the situation you describe, the fact that a police officer has already dealt with another case concerning you, even if it was closed, is not in itself sufficient to justify his recusal. If you decide to refer this matter to the Public Prosecutor's Office, you will have to demonstrate, in a concrete and objectively verifiable manner, that this police officer is not in a position to conduct an impartial investigation. A simple memory of tense exchanges with him or a feeling of injustice will not suffice. Unless you carefully substantiate your request with precise, substantiated facts, it will most likely be rejected.
