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31st August 2010
Francois Hosts Media
STAN BISHOP

(Photo) Police officials and some of the media personnel at Friday's meeting.

Acting commissioner of police Vernon Francois says the Royal St. Lucia Police Force may not be the world’s best. What, he added, he can vouch for, though, is that the Force is continuously making strides to become a unit that the public trusts and appreciates.
Francois expressed the above sentiments as he met with members of the press last Friday morning at Chesterfield House. The meeting was a follow-up to a meeting held almost approximately a year ago with then commissioner of police Ausbert Regis.
Francois acknowledged good rapport the RSLPF has had with the media over the years. He added that despite the media’s need to ask tough questions, seek answers and report the news, that body should also show responsibility in the manner with which it does so.
“I do not blame the media at all but I think there is a need for a degree of responsibility and people need to know more about issues,” Francois said. I mean, I was listening to a talk show and someone was speaking about how the justice system in St. Lucia is for the rich and not the poor and he used (former police commissioner) Cuthbert Philips as an example to say that Philips didn’t spend a day in jail. The fact of the matter is that Philips was originally sentenced to five years in jail. His sentence was cut down to three years on appeal and he did his three years. I mean, it has even gotten further now, through the rehabilitation of officers board, headed by Justice Suzie d’Auvergne, where his conviction has been expunged. So legally, one cannot even say that Philips has a conviction. Now media people need to know these kinds of things so that when people set off, they can be set straight. You (the media) influence people a great deal. I have nothing against the media criticizing the police and keeping us on our toes. We need to be kept on our toes.”
 
 

He also addressed the topical issue of whether the police should be allowed to investigate its own in cases where serious allegations are leveled against police officers.
“I have every confidence that our officers are able to investigate cases involving their colleagues,” the acting commissioner said yesterday morning. “But based on public perception -- and I think that is important -- we need to have an independent agency investigating police cases. But we cannot call for an independent agency when the matter has taken place – it will not happen. Because you have to look at the mechanics of it, you have to look at the legal implications of it, and you have to look at how it is constituted.”
However, he referenced the case where soca artiste Andrew “Yardie” Haynes was shot by police on September 20, 2008. In that instance, an independent investigation was launched by Minister of Home Affairs, Senator Guy Mayers, to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the shooting. That independent investigation had supplanted the police’s own investigation. So far, the top cop noted, there has not been “any independent inquiry into that matter.”
Whatever approach is taken, Francois stressed that any investigation must be done properly. In respect to the latest allegation by a 22-year-old woman that a police officer facilitated four men in an incident where she was sexually assaulted, Francois said a dilemma has now been created. The Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that an independent investigation will ascertain the circumstances surrounding the alleged assault and the police officer’s alleged culpability. The police force was also directed to launch its own investigation into the matter.
Francois believes that the Force’s 1000-plus staff base needs a functioning system to deal with officers who are found to be breaking the laws they swore to uphold.

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