Prime Minister Mia Mottley has set a dangerous precedent for the future independence of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) and the relationship between officers and the country’s political directorate.
This is the view of former president of the Police Officers Association and former first vice president of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados Hartley Reid who declared that Mottley was “totally out of line” as she directly interfered in an ongoing investigation.
He also dismissed as a “red herring”, Mottley’s suggestions that the controversial matter has been blown out of proportion because of the area in which it unfolded.
The PM continues to be the subject of heavy fire from the Opposition and some members of the public for directly intervening, as RBPF officials attempted to close The Cook Shop on Deacons Road, for a perceived contravention of Emergency (COVID-19 Directive) No. 7.
Mottley’s account of the Good Friday event however suggested that whilst speaking to the officers from a device owned by business owner Ross Ashton, she asked if the ‘patrons’ were wearing masks and seated in a manner that complied with physical distancing. The PM then asked officers to disclose the concern that would require officers closing the establishment, to which no further concerns were expressed.
Later reports suggest that the incident resulted in jeers and taunts from young men on the scene as the officers departed, seemingly without completing their investigation.
However, Reid, who served as president of the association on numerous occasions between 1988 and 2008, declared that in the interest of objectivity, the only persons from which officers should seek guidance or instruction whilst in the field are RBPF commanding officers.
In extraordinary circumstances, he added that the Attorney General would have some leeway or even Head of the COVID-19 monitoring unit Ronald Chapman, if in fact, the officers were carrying out duties under Emergency Management (Covid-19)(Curfew)(No.7) Directive, 2021.
Amid deafening silence from the force’s top brass on the matter, the outspoken former inspector questioned whether Ashton sought Mottley’s advice in her capacity as Prime Minister of Barbados or as a private attorney-at-law.
“Unless she was representing that gentleman as an attorney, who speaks on behalf of a client, no other civilian interferes with the police officer in the execution of his duties, because that is also an offence. She would have to have been representing that gentleman as his attorney-at-law, not as a third party or interested person being Prime Minister. It cannot work,” Reid told Barbados TODAY.
“If the Prime Minister wanted to intervene, the Prime Minister as the Head of Government should have called the Commissioner of Police or one of his other senior officers. There are two Deputy Commissioners of Police and there is also the officer-in-charge of the Bridgetown Division Superintendent Acting Antonio Forte.
“Those are the people that the Prime Minister would have interfaced with, who would have contacted operations control or would have sent another senior officer to the scene. But for sure, no Prime Minister has any authority or any right, don’t care what word you use, to speak to any active police officer on the scene to inquire as to what is going on. That is the job of the Commissioner of Police. The Commissioner of Police runs the force, not any politician. So I do not understand what actually happened… The Prime Minister was out of order,” the former Labour leader added.
Reid explained that officers’ refusal to continue the investigation after the PM’s intervention raises serious questions about future probes.
In fact, he added that officers on the scene had erred in engaging with the PM without the expressed permission of the Commissioner.
“What if this were to happen and police officers are investigating a murder or a burglary or something very serious and a politician, whether the Prime Minister or some other politician calls and asks for information? What is going to happen?” the officer asked.
“These things should not be done and if the Prime Minister thought that she is so loved by the people of Barbados that she can interfere with the operations of a police officer in the execution of their duties…it will happen again… because as the Prime Minister said, she always accepts calls from the public,” the officer warned.
Nevertheless, the former officer admitted that it is unlikely that either the Commissioner or his deputies would make statements that could be perceived as an attack on the ruling party. But he expects the incident to have no real effect on the rank and file of the force who would continue to take direction from the Commissioner.
“No good policeman gets involved in those types of issues. That is an issue for the command of the force to bother about. So have no fear, the police force would continue and if they had to go back down there today, I believe they would do so without hesitation.
“I would be very surprised if this were to affect the morale of any good police officer” he concluded.
(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)
