Leave politics out of the police force, lawyer tells CoP

A lawyer has shared that one gift he wants from the Commissioner of Police (CoP) for Christmas is for him to “leave politics out of the police force.”

During the Closing of the Assizes, which was held at the High Court in Kingstown yesterday, Grant Connell, along with other lawyers briefly touched on concerns that do not sit well with them.

One of the concerns addressed by Connell is that members of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) are being appointed to positions for which they are not capable of performing their responsibilities. “When the police force crumbles and you put square pegs in round holes, we the people would suffer,” he said.

Connell further advised that police officers should demand more vehicles to enable them to carry out their duties. “I saw with my own eyes a senior police coming out of a van,” Connell claimed.

He also said that on another occasion, he saw a police officer using stones to mark a wheel at an accident which occurred in Kingstown. And, on yet another occasion when he was travelling to Kingstown from the Windward side of St Vincent, Connell said some police officers requested his assistance with bringing traffic cones into Kingstown because they had no transportation.

“Make your Christmas list now,” Connell said, while adding “We need to get the small things right.”

SEARCHLIGHT understands that lack of transportation is indeed a huge problem that manifests itself daily, within the RSVGPF, especially in relation to transporting newly sentenced prisoners from the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court to prison.

SEARCHLIGHT was present at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court in September when one of Connell’s clients, 19-year-old Renson Shepard, was sentenced to prison by Magistrate John Ballah. Following the sentencing, a court officer was seen outside of the courtroom, making numerous phone calls, fussing and pleading for a police transport to come to collect the teenager.

And walking to the Central Police Station was not an option on that occasion, as the court officers did not have handcuffs or any other means to secure the prisoner from escaping custody. Also, the prisoner was barefoot and would have suffered much discomfort from walking on the hot pitch.

After an extensive wait, the officers unsuccessfully requested assistance from a taxi driver who said he was on a tight schedule. Eventually, a police vehicle showed up.

“The good men (police officers) have to settle for that,” Connell stressed, as he reminded the court that neither the Criminal Records Office nor the Processing Unit have a vehicle of their own.

Connell also said that the notion of “We are a poor nation and we could afford certain things…” needs to be discarded, but a rather, “we have to see where there’s need for investment for the prosecution and the police.”