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Why are the politicians protecting the corrupt cops?
Let us prosecute them - INDECOM boss
Published: Thursday | May 16, 2013 0 Comments
Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner WriterMonths after the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) wrapped up its probe into the police shooting death of Immaculate Conception High School student Vanessa Kirkland, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is yet to make a ruling on whether charges should be laid against any of the police involved.
With this in mind, INDECOM boss Terrence Williams is once again placing on the table a proposal to equip his office with the powers to charge and prosecute police personnel.
The proposal, which was reiterated yesterday at a Gleaner Editors' Forum, was first put forward in a 2011 report tabled in Parliament in which INDECOM argued that this was necessary if it was to be effective in its duties.
Yesterday, Williams pointed to several instances of delay by the office of the DPP in making a ruling, saying it remained a concern.
Too much delay
"Indeed, we think that if it is going to take in excess of a month for a ruling, then certainly it is too much of a delay," Williams said.
"We had a very good meeting with the DPP recently and we recognised the difficulty that office has with their general workload and the fact that they can only attend to these rulings when they get free time from their general work. We think it is a burden which they don't need to bear."
In making his case for the power to charge police personnel, Williams argued that just as how the police have the power to lay charge against anyone of his members and the DPP is later called upon to quash the matter via a nolle prosequi, he believed that the police could be treated in the same way in the event that a charge is laid against them by any of his investigators.
Williams said a recommendation was made to the parliamentary committee set up to review the INDECOM to give his office powers "not only to bring the prosecution but to marshal it".
He said the structure of the INDECOM Act makes it "amenable to someone performing prosecutorial function."
"... I have had two decades in prosecution. The INDECOM commissioner must be somebody who is qualified to be a High Court judge, so you must have somebody who has spent enough time at the Bar. In fact, it is the same as the qualification to be the DPP."
nedburn.thaffe@gleanerjm.com
Let us prosecute them - INDECOM boss
Published: Thursday | May 16, 2013 0 Comments
Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner WriterMonths after the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) wrapped up its probe into the police shooting death of Immaculate Conception High School student Vanessa Kirkland, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is yet to make a ruling on whether charges should be laid against any of the police involved.
With this in mind, INDECOM boss Terrence Williams is once again placing on the table a proposal to equip his office with the powers to charge and prosecute police personnel.
The proposal, which was reiterated yesterday at a Gleaner Editors' Forum, was first put forward in a 2011 report tabled in Parliament in which INDECOM argued that this was necessary if it was to be effective in its duties.
Yesterday, Williams pointed to several instances of delay by the office of the DPP in making a ruling, saying it remained a concern.
Too much delay
"Indeed, we think that if it is going to take in excess of a month for a ruling, then certainly it is too much of a delay," Williams said.
"We had a very good meeting with the DPP recently and we recognised the difficulty that office has with their general workload and the fact that they can only attend to these rulings when they get free time from their general work. We think it is a burden which they don't need to bear."
In making his case for the power to charge police personnel, Williams argued that just as how the police have the power to lay charge against anyone of his members and the DPP is later called upon to quash the matter via a nolle prosequi, he believed that the police could be treated in the same way in the event that a charge is laid against them by any of his investigators.
Williams said a recommendation was made to the parliamentary committee set up to review the INDECOM to give his office powers "not only to bring the prosecution but to marshal it".
He said the structure of the INDECOM Act makes it "amenable to someone performing prosecutorial function."
"... I have had two decades in prosecution. The INDECOM commissioner must be somebody who is qualified to be a High Court judge, so you must have somebody who has spent enough time at the Bar. In fact, it is the same as the qualification to be the DPP."
nedburn.thaffe@gleanerjm.com
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