SVG should amend Police Act with dispatch

24.MAY.11

Editor: It has been almost a month now since three members of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, convicted of serious criminal offences, have been reinstated by Commissioner Keith Miller. As reported in the local (SVG) media, one of the officers admitted to lying under oath. It is not clear if that officer has been charged for perjury.{{more}}

The officers were charged with “Assault Causing Actual Bodily Harm” on a 15-year-old boy, back in 2008. According to reports, so severe was the police brutality on the young lad, he was hospitalised and remained in a coma for about a week. None of the various media reports indicated this lad was resisting arrest or assaulting the police officers. Indeed, if he did, was this level of brutality by three officers necessary to restrain an unarmed 15-year-old boy?

According to Commissioner Miller, these officers – one of them the son of a former Commissioner of Police, who was once Miller’s boss – are “outstanding Police Officers”. So outstanding it seems, two of them never moved from their entry level rank of Constable. And it appears no one but Keith Miller knows of their outstanding service to the Police Force.

It may be reasonable to assume these three convicted criminal officers have lost all integrity. Will they ever be respected or believed in any Court of Law? As for the one who admitted to lying under oath, defense attorneys will make mincemeat of him in the witness stand for the remainder of his career. Outstanding!!!

Many supporters of the Unity Labour Party Government seem more interested in rallying around our Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, than standing up for justice and human rights. “My dear people”, Senator Anesia Baptiste must be having a good laugh.

Though the Police Act gives the Commissioner the authority to hire, promote, discipline and dismiss officers below the rank of Station Sergeant, many believe Commissioner Miller ought to have consulted with the Minister of National Security (his boss) and the Attorney General’s office, before making such a major national decision, which has international consequences. This, at a time when Miller is said to be very unpopular among the men and women he leads. It could be argued that this section of the Police Act is either being conveniently misinterpreted or taken literally. The Act prevents applicants with criminal record, for which they have not received a pardon, from becoming members of the Police Force. It could further be argued that this section of the Police Act was intended to prevent recruiting and removing persons with criminal records from serving in the Police Force. Seems Commissioner Keith Miller and his advisors are of the contrary belief.

ULP talk show hosts and callers to their radio shows, as well as known ULP posters on FaceBook, daily defend Miller’s decision. They claim there is precedence. They cite the case of a Woman Police Officer, who was convicted for assaulting a nurse during the NDP’s term in office. They further claim the officer is still a member of Police Force, and indeed, has reached the rank of Sergeant. But is this precedent enough to justify the recent decision of Commissioner Keith Miller and his advisors? If it is, then Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace (and their advisors – legal and otherwise) need to move with dispatch to amend this law. The laws in SVG should be clear and in line with international standards, particularly those in the British Commonwealth.

If Commissioner Miller’s decision stands and the SVG Police Act is not amended to keep criminals out of the Police Force, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and St. Vincent and the Grenadines could very well take a beating in international Human Rights circles. This troubling issue may serve to negate the favourable Human Rights ratings SVG recently received from the UN Human Rights Commission. Our political leaders should not take this matter too lightly. Laws are made with provisions for amendments. Laws in SVG should never be made or applied based on political or other personal considerations.

The calls by hypocritical ULP supporters for a second chance for these officers rings hollow and are nothing but partisan rubbish.

I find it very dotish that ULP operatives and supporters of Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves can now be comforting themselves with poor decisions of former Commissioner Randolph Toussaint and former Prime Minister Sir James Mitchell. Quite frankly, they all sound like a bunch of petit dictators well on their way to establishing a Police State in SVG.

This may be rants from an “anti-ULP individual” (Minister Frederick Stephenson on FaceBook) in the Vincentian Diaspora, “who ain’t even live here” – in SVG (Clem Ballah on Star Radio) and should “stay in Canada and leave SVG business alone” (Ms. Anne Browne-Harry on FaceBook). It may even be coming from “a Loose Canon who cannot be trusted” (Vincy Powa aka Ragga 007 on FaceBook). However, what is certain is: on this issue of keeping convicted criminals in the SVG Police Force, this writer – a ULP supporter – and many other ULP supporters are firmly on the side of God Almighty and upholders of justice and Human Rights.

Where are the Christians in the ULP and the rest of SVG? When will we choose the tough responsibilities of national political leadership over the meaningless nostrums of sterile partisanship?

Wade Kojo Williams, Sr.