Accountability in the Police Service
When attorney Gillian Lucky was appointed Director of the Police Complaints Authority in late 2010, there were reportedly over 1200 cases pending before it. While no conclusion can be drawn on these complaints without due investigation, it must lead the public to legitimately question the priority given to such complaints and this only serves to negatively impact the lack of public confidence which now affects the Police Service.
It is impossible to avoid another public perception that violent crime and the fear of crime have reached such proportions that citizens no longer care HOW crime is contained. If one is to judge by the comments via blogs, etc., there is a large section of our population who are contented to look the other way while bandits kill off their fellow criminals or even if lawmen kill wanted felons in questionable circumstances.
But what happens when the lines between right and wrong become blurred? When people feel they can no longer distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys? The perception, whether actual or imagined, cannot augur well for any agency charged with the responsibility to protect and serve. Unfortunately, this is the juncture at which the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service now finds itself.
Police officers have been brought before the courts for criminal acts ranging from petty bribes to rape and robbery. On the other hand, law abiding citizens relate stories of instances where their reports cannot be traced, the police neglect and or refuse to act on reports or just poor and indifferent service when they visit stations to make legitimate complaints.
The Chamber supports the efforts of the PCA to fully and thoroughly probe all reports which have come to it, even those which go back several years, since it speaks to a core need for accountability.
Chief among matters now receiving wide media coverage is the incidence of police killings in this country. A newspaper report cites that between 2000 to July 2011, there have been 256 people killed by the police in Trinidad and Tobago. Claims of unlawful killings by police officers recently came to a head in the incident in Moruga which left three persons dead and sparked days of protests by residents.
What is most disturbing in this whole scenario is that as far as our information goes, there does not exist at present, any formal protocols to be followed in the TTPS following killings by police officers on duty. This has already brought T&T unwanted attention from watchdog groups such as Amnesty International. Although when allegations of misconduct arise, internal investigations are promised, we do not recall any prosecutions resulting from the said investigations, certainly none which have received the attention of the public.
We recognise that police officers put their lives on the line each day and the very critical role that they perform remains undiminished. But this can never be a reason to bypass accountability. If only to help restore confidence in the Police Service, internal procedures need to be established and followed to investigate police conduct and the Police Complaints Authority must be given full co-operation and support in its quest to clear the backlog of cases before it.
