DEPUTY Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds yesterday blamed much of the long-standing tension between the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) on Commissioner Terrence Williams.
The high-ranking policeman also contradicted the pleasant picture painted by Williams to Parliament about the relationship between the police and INDECOM. Williams had assured the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) of Parliament, when he appeared before it several months ago, that the relationship between INDECOM and the police was “excellent”. PAAC member Fitz Jackson asked Hinds, in a candid discussion yesterday, to directly address Williams’ assertion.
“The working relationship is good, but in the best of relationships there are going to be disagreements. We try from the leadership position to indicate to the members that both organisations are indispensable to the security of the country…I would not say it’s excellent; it’s good,” Hinds stated.
He explained further why agreements arising out of meetings between heads of the JCF and INDECOM often do not see the light of day.
“The major issue we have is with the commissioner of INDECOM. They can’t come to any agreement that is going to bind INDECOM unless he (Williams) agrees to it. So it is not disingenuous of me to say that it is a good relationship, although there are several issues on the ground and it’s how INDECOM operates, not the law, but how some persons in INDECOM, more so the commissioner, applies his remit,” ACP Hines told the parliamentary committee.
Pointing to some of issues frustrating the relationship between the JCF and INDECOM, Assistant Commissioner of Police Novelette Grant stressed that the way the police are being asked to account for their actions on the job is onerous. “That is the crux of the matter. There is a perception that members of the constabulary are unwilling to account; that’s far from the truth. If you make the process onerous, then people start to weigh whether or not they can afford that process,” she said.
Meanwhile, chief of defence staff of the Jamaica Defence Force Major General Antony Anderson argued that legislation from other jurisdictions, which Jamaica referred to in the crafting of the INDECOM Act, includes provisions for oversight bodies to gain the trust and confidence of the public and the agencies which they are overseeing.
He lamented that this was never a part of the discussion when INDECOM was being created.
“That is what has been missing from the way we have been doing this here. When that philosophical position is not there, then there is no need to take any action to make the police confident that they are going to be dealt with fairly, or anyone else. As long as it matches the letter of the law, that’s good enough. Unfortunately, it is people we are dealing with and the people who are being overseen are people who go out every day and risk their lives to protect other people,” he said.
Anderson said it is important to bring that balance to the application of the law in order to reassure the security forces, as well as the public.
Permanent Secretary in the National Security Ministry Diane McIntosh said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) which the JCF and INDECOM are to sign within another week should address some of the difficulties.
But PAAC Chairman Wykeham McNeill said the issues were too deep-rooted to be resolved by an MOU. He insisted that the committee itself needed to take action.
The PAAC subsequently agreed to express its “grave” concern to Parliament to have the matter referred to the Internal and External Affairs Committee. That committee is expected to examine all the documentation and recommendations that have been prepared to date by all the parties on measures to improve the relationship between the police and INDECOM.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Under-fire-Senior-cops-blame-INDECOM-boss-for-stand-off-with-police — — –_78523