| CoP: Police Brutality Cases are Confidential |
| By L.K. Hewlett |
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Police Commissioner CG Walwyn |
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Police Commissioner CG Walwyn says the outcome of investigations into police brutality reports is not a matter for public consumption.
Recently at least three cases have been published in the local press where civilians claim to have been the victims of police brutality or other ‘abuses of power’.
Commissioner Walwyn spoke exclusively with The Observer explaining that investigations of that manner are confidential and are dealt with internally.
“These recent cases are still under investigation and I cannot go into them without giving specifics. The investigations are an internal thing; they [offending officers] are dealt with according to regulations. These things are not made public. The police will do their investigations and if the officer is wrong they’ll be disciplined,” he said.
When asked if the complainant or victim would be notified as to the outcome of the matter the CoP said no agency that he had been with or knows of informs the complainant.
According to the Police Chief, some media practitioners were however only reporting one side of the stories, which was why he declined to comment on more than one occasion. He referenced one case in particular where he said the journalist interviewed him after the alleged victim made his claims of brutality to the media house. That journalist he said, “conveniently” left critical information out of his article.
“The stories you have been seeing in the media have been one-sided. We had the first one where a man claimed that he was met by the Delta Squad twice in one night and the second time taken someplace up in Newtown and beaten then let go. He said he walked to the hospital to seek treatment.”
He continued, “However, what that biased news reporter omitted to report was that that man received between 7 and 9 charges, including one for possession of Cannabis and in the story he said he didn’t have any drugs, that he wasn’t charged with anything, yet he was arrested that same night for beating the police, trying to destroy evidence and trying to escape the scene. But that was omitted from the story,” he said.
He also criticized the media house for posting a picture of another alleged victim of police brutality with tubes protruding from his side, alleging that the injuries were the result of a beating by members of the Delta Squad. CoP Walwyn said the journalist failed to say that the man had been injured prior to the run-in with the security forces.
“Also they are making it look like the guy was handcuffed [during the incident] but he was only handcuffed on one hand and he was actively fighting. The man admitted in the story that he assaulted an officer by “kicking him in the groin, punching him in the face and biting the officer”. That officer had to go to the hospital to seek medical treatment for his injuries. As a matter of fact I was on the phone with an eyewitness and they were shouting at the man to behave,” said the Commissioner.
Speaking to the report where a man from Nevis claimed he had been assaulted by a police officer, CoP Walwyn said the complainant admitted he had a radio in his hand and stuck it the officer’s face. These kinds of details were being overlooked by persons reading the stories, said the Commissioner.
Commissioner Walwyn said some people were not accustomed to the law being enforced and now that it is, they are exhibiting resistance.
“The police are not playing with people anymore. If you are breaking the Law the officers are going to enforce it. They come from a culture where the police were lackadaisical and passive; they are no longer that way and people are not accustomed to the enforcement of laws.
Because the laws are now being enforced they want to go up against the police and that’s not going to happen.”
CoP Walwyn assured that every report of inappropriate behavior by members of law enforcement will be investigated and the necessary disciplinary action taken if the officer is found to be wrong.
“If they are not wrong I will stand by my officers,” the Commissioner emphasized.
He said that all officers were trained to know what level of force was appropriate for different situations. CoP Walwyn said officers had been told that policing was a community-based ‘business’ and as such civilians should be treated with respect.
On the other hand the Commissioner informed, he would not tell an officer to “sit there and take it” if a citizen is abusing him/her.
“If a citizen respects the police, the police will surely respect the citizen. However when a citizen becomes physically combative with the police, the police will use whatever force is necessary to subdue the person at that point.” |
