In the public interest
原文
Lesson 53
In the public interest
What could not be reported in the official files?
The Scandinavian countries are much admired all over the world for their enlightened social policies.
Sweden has evolved an excellent system for protecting the individual citizen from high-handed or incompetent public officers.
The system has worked so well, that it has been adopted in other countries too.
The Swedes were the first to recognize that public officials like civil servants,
police officers, health inspectors or tax-collectors can make mistakes or act over-zealously in the belief that they are serving the public.
As long ago as 1809, the Swedish Parliament introduced a scheme to safeguard the interest of the individual.
A parliamentary committee representing all political parties appoints a person who is suitably qualified to investigate private grievances against the State.
The official title of the person is 'Justiteombudsman', but the Swedes commonly refer to him as the 'J.O.' or 'Ombudsman'.
The Ombudsman is not subject to political pressure.
He investigates complaints large and small that come to him from all levels of society.
As complaints must be made in writing, the Ombudsman receives an average of 1, 200 letters a year.
He has eight lawyer assistants to help him and he examines every single letter in detail.
There is nothing secretive about the Ombudsman's work, for his correspondence is open to public inspection.
If a citizen's complaint is justified the Ombudsman will act on his behalf.
The action he takes varies according to the nature of the complaint.
He may gently reprimand an official or even suggest to parliament that a law be altered.
The following case is a typical example of the Ombudsman's work.
A foreigner living in a Swedish village wrote to the Ombudsman complaining that he had been ill-treated by the police,
simply because he was a foreigner.
The Ombudsman immediately wrote to the Chief of Police in the district asking him to send a record of the case.
There was nothing in the record to show that the foreigner's complaint was justified
and the Chief of Police strongly denied the accusation.
It was impossible for the Ombudsman to take action,
but when he received a similar complaint from another foreigner in the same village,
he immediately sent one of his lawyers to investigate the matter.
The lawyer ascertained that a policeman had indeed dealt roughly with foreigners on several occasions.
The fact that the policeman was prejudiced against foreigners could not be recorded in the official files.
It was only possible for the Ombudsman to find this out by sending one of his representatives to check the facts.
The policeman in question was severely reprimanded
and was informed that if any further complaints were lodged against him, he would be prosecuted.
The Ombudsman's prompt action at once put an end to an unpleasant practice which might have gone unnoticed.
译文
第53课
为了公共利益
有哪些内容是无法被记录在官方文件中的呢？
斯堪的纳维亚国家因其开明的社会政策而受到全世界的广泛赞誉。
瑞典已经建立了一套非常完善的制度，旨在保护公民免受专横或无能的公职人员的侵害。
该系统运行得非常出色，因此也被其他国家采纳使用了。
瑞典人是最早意识到像公务员这样的公职人员可能会犯错或行为过激的人。
警察、卫生检查员或税务官员都可能犯错，或者因为自认为是在为公众服务而表现得过于热心（即行为过于激进）。
早在1809年，瑞典议会就出台了一项旨在保护个人权益的方案。
一个代表所有政党的议会委员会，会任命一位具备适当资格的人来调查公民对政府提出的个人投诉。
这个人的正式头衔是“司法监察专员”（Justice Ombudsman），但瑞典人通常称他为“J.O.”或“Ombudsman”。
监察专员不受政治压力的影响。
他负责调查来自社会各个阶层的各种投诉，无论这些投诉的规模大小如何。
由于投诉必须以书面形式提出，因此监察专员每年平均会收到 1,200 封来信。
他有八名律师助理协助他工作，他会仔细审查每一封信的内容。
监察专员的工作没有任何保密性；他的所有通信记录都可供公众查阅。
如果公民的投诉是合理的，监察专员将会代表该公民采取行动。
他采取的行动会根据投诉的性质而有所不同。
他可能会温和地告诫某位官员，甚至向议会提出修改法律的建议。
以下案例是监察专员工作的典型例子。
一位居住在瑞典村庄的外国人写信给监察专员，投诉称自己受到了警方的虐待。
仅仅因为他是外国人。
监察专员立即致函该地区的警察局长，要求他提供该案件的详细记录。
记录中没有任何内容表明那位外国人的投诉是合理的
警方局长强烈否认了这一指控。
监察专员根本无法采取任何行动。
但是当他收到同一村庄里另一位外国人类似的投诉时……
他立即派了自己的律师去调查这件事。
律师证实，确实有警察在多次场合中对外国人采取了粗暴的态度。
这名警察对外国人存在偏见这一事实，无法被记录在官方文件中。
只有通过派遣他的代表去核实事实，监察专员才得以发现这一情况。
这名涉事的警察受到了严厉的训斥。
并且被告知，如果再有人对他提出投诉，他将会被起诉。
监察专员的迅速行动立即制止了这一可能被忽视的不良行为。