THE SPATE of protests over the acquittal of a police constable tried for manslaughter in the death of 13-year-old Janice Allen raises serious questions about the Police Force itself.
This was a case in which the presiding judge in the Portland Circuit Court instructed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty because the Crown failed to produce the evidence to support its case.
The missing evidence amounts to a catalogue of incompetence and/or corruption in the preparation of the case for trial. The court was told that the Firearms Register which recorded the issuing of a gun to Constable Rohan Allen was reported lost after a fire at the Denham Town Police Station; at the earlier inquest, a particular page with information relevant to the trial was reported missing from the register.
The investigating officer who took a statement from the constable had subsequently resigned from the Force and was now living abroad and thus not available to testify, and there had been no identification parade with key witnesses that could have testified as to the circumstances in which Janice was shot fatally in the back on April 14, 2000 in Trench Town, St. Andrew. At that time the police had claimed that the girl was killed during an exchange of gunfire between them and criminals in the area.
Nobody should seek to belittle the dangers the police face every day in fighting the high levels of crime which plague the nation; and it is conceded that they cannot do their job without public support. Like everyone else they are also prone to error and subject to the very laws they are sworn to defend.
In the latter circumstance questions must arise about the capacity of the police to investigate themselves with the level of impartiality and commitment that the administration of law and justice demands at every level of the system.
Police performance in this case will add to the unsavoury reputation and image the Force is attracting at home and abroad. The relevant authorities must do something about it as a matter of urgency.
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