Court rules in favour of retired police on enquiry boards

Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

The Special Constabulary Force Association has failed in its attempt to get orders from the Judicial Review Court to bar the commissioner of police from including retired police officers on a board of enquiry.

Supreme Court Judge Donald McIntosh, in handing down the ruling yesterday, said it was a good thing to have retired police officers on the board because they were familiar with the system.

A board of enquiry hears allegations into breaches and misconduct allegedly committed by members of the police force.

It was the association's contention that the regulations did not make provisions for retired officers to adjudicate at hearings into police conduct. The association said only the commissioner of police and serving police officers could sit on such boards.

Director of State Proceedings Curtis Cochrane, who represented the commissioner of police and the attorney general, argued that there was no stipulation in the regulations that only serving members should sit on the board.

no breach of law

Justice McIntosh upheld Cochrane's legal submissions and, in dismissing the motion, said there was no breach of the law or the regulations.

The association is planning to take the issue to the constitutional court.

Yesterday's ruling clears the way for the board to continue the hearing into complaints made against a special sergeant. The hearing had started but the association got an injunction from the Supreme Court which stayed the hearing until the Judicial Review Court had ruled on the issue.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com