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A senior member of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) has defended the track record of police investigations into misconduct by officers, including fatal officer shootings.
The defence came against the backdrop of calls for an independent body.
Assistant Police Commissioner responsible for crime George Nicholas spoke Tuesday night during an appearance on the Choice Television programme ‘Police Insight’.
“We have had a very good track record and a lot of success stories to tell as it relates to investigating our own,” Nicholas told programme Host Sergeant Zachery Hippolyte.
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“I can, off the top of my head, recall about six officers who are presently on suspension having been charged with various criminal offences,” Nicholas said.
He recalled a recent high court trial during which a police officer charged with causing death and represented by ‘one of the top lawyers in Saint Lucia’ changed his plea to guilty.
“Now, which lawyer would advise his client, especially a lawyer of that calibre, would advise his client and a police officer at that to plead guilty?” Nicholas said.
He asserted that it was testimony to the quality of the investigation and the evidence collected by police officers who conducted the probe.
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“We currently have police officers who are serving time at Bordelais or former police officers,” the Assistant Commissioner of Police revealed, stressing that police officers investigated those cases.
Nicholas declared that people must understand that the RSLPF investigates crimes, regardless of who commits them.
“So we have a very good track record to be conducting very fair investigations,” he told Police Insight.
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