The ball is now in the court of the Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard to act on the report of the Police Complaints Authority into the day of Total Policing in March 2015.
Acting National Security Minister Stuart Young told the media yesterday that “the DPP would have to advise as to what or if any charges can come out of it.”
Having completed its investigations more than two years after the incident, the PCA said the detailed report with a total of 21 recommendations had been sent to the Police Commissioner, the DPP and the Police Service Commission.
Young said in addition to advising on charges if any, “the DPP may also advise certain investigative work be done."
The PCA, he said, had to be careful how much information was put into the public domain “because it has to understand its role very carefully. They are not supposed to be making pronouncements. They make recommendations. If they go beyond that remit it can actually affect the infinitive outcome in the end."
Substantive National Security Minister Edmund Dillon returns home later today.
Meantime, member of the Police Service Commission and attorney Martin George says Police Commissioner Stephen Williams must act with urgency on the report from the Police Complaints Authority which has recommended disciplinary and or criminal action against some of the officers who were involved.
George said, “The nation had called repeatedly for the executive of the police officers to deal with rogue officers,” but there has been a lack of “seriousness” in the Police Service to deal with it.
The events of March 23, 2015 he said had engaged the Parliament’s Joint select Committee where several questions were asked about the failure of the Police Service to deal with the issue.
Now that the PCA report is in he said there is no excuse for inaction, “it is not something that the police service can ignore.”
George said although there had been several calls from the population for the service to deal with “rogue officers it appears there is not enough seriousness in the police service to deal with it.”
He repeated his call for an “Internal Affairs unit within the service,” where he said officers will investigate their peers, “unless you do that you will never be able to root out the core that is so rotten within the police service.”