Police Complaints Authority (PCA) director Gillian Lucky is once again calling for the authority to be given the same investigative powers as the police. Speaking with reporters after the launch of a disability awareness campaign yesterday, Lucky said: “We need the powers, the immunities, the authorities and privileges of the police and that is something I am strongly recommending to the Government they have to consider.”
Lucky said the authority was mandated in law to investigate police officers but the PCA did not have the immunities nor powers of the police. She said if the authority went to a crime scene to investigate a matter which fell within its remit and took possession of a firearm or drugs, members of the authority could be committing criminal offences. This is something, she said, the Government had to consider.
Recent events, she said, demonstrated that the authority has been “out there and doing its role.” Lucky said Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard said recently the authority had made a valuable contribution to the Sea Lots matter. She said during the authority’s recent visit to Tobago, as it seeks to set up an office there, Tobagonians said: “We know you have teeth, but you need to get your teeth sharpened.”
Speaking to claims of police brutality in the John John, Laventille area, Lucky told the media: “I don’t want to breach the confidentiality of reports made by complainants to the PCA, but again I want to say the matter was put in the public domain through articles and publications in our newspapers and even our on radio stations, and as you all know once it is in the public domain—even without a complaint—the PCA becomes very involved.
“Those matters are being actively investigated by the PCA because we have recognised there appears to be—based on the articles and publications published in the recent past—there appears to be a certain increase in terms of these allegations of police brutality.”
This week a riot broke out between residents and the police after the residents claimed, in a CNC3 report, that police had arrested a man from a rival gang in another area, “roughed him up” and dropped him off in John John, where he was then beaten and his dreadlocks cut off. The report then said the police were then pelted with stones.
She said the PCA’s permanent office in Tobago should open “sooner rather than later.” The authority, she said, had already begun looking at sites, even though the Government had the final decision. The office, she said, would be fully staffed and equipped and the authority’s director and deputy director would be visiting the island to ensure that its presence was not superficial or cosmetic.
When asked about the authority’s outreach and its upcoming visits, Lucky said two days ago the authority visited Argyle and Moriah in Tobago. She said the authority also visited the island last year but had recognised there were many more places it needed to visit in terms of outreach, not only to tell people about the PCA but to learn about their specific concerns.
She said while there were some similarities between Trinidad and Tobago, there were some concerns peculiar to the island, such as confidentiality and witness protection. The issues had been raised with the former Justice Minister Herbert Volney and with current Justice Minister Christlyn Moore.