Section 27 of the Castries Constituency Bill, concerning the powers of city police, has divided national opinion from the regular Joe on the street to Members of Parliament. It seems everyone has an opinion on the matter. In fact, it would not be inaccurate to state that the spats between the Castries City mayor and the Castries South MP—reported in this newspaper last week—were set off by the bill.
The troublesome section: “A Castries city police [officer], in addition to the special powers vested in him or her under this Act, has in respect of the whole of Saint Lucia the powers, privileges and immunities conferred on a constable by the common law, and the powers, privileges, immunities and liabilities conferred or imposed on a constable of corresponding rank by the Police Act, Cap 14.01. An act done by or to a Castries city police officer in the execution of his or her duty has the same effect and the same liabilities and other consequences and is punishable in the same manner as if done by or to a police officer of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force in the execution of his or her duty.”
When Travis Chicot, as leader of the Police Welfare Association, aired his opposition to the Bill a few weeks ago, it was taken as representative of the whole RSLPF. But what ACP Wayne Charlery says on the issue suggests otherwise. “I would love to read the legislation, but just looking at it on the surface—more powers, more numbers island-wide—to me that’s what we need,” he said on Wednesday. “If it means I’m looking at more police officers, then I’m all for it. I look at the constabulary as an asset and I’m all for embracing our little brother, as the case may be. With both the regular police and the constabulary, our mandate, our goal, our raison d’être is to prevent and reduce crime. So we must build a partnership with the city police, whether they’re in the city or they’re all over Saint Lucia, to be able to combat crime effectively. That’s the bottom line.”
Charlery added that if community policing is something the RSLPF has been promoting for years, then there can be nothing wrong with expanding the powers of the constabulary. “The best way to combat crime is to partner with the communities and the people. So many times we go out and do community policing. So, if this is the panacea, there’s no going away from it. It is the future of combatting crime and being able to reduce crime, where we all can feel safe and there’s a level of peace and security.”
But last week Chicot said the legislation would cause confusion. He even threatened police action to counter the Bill’s passing. “How can the city constabulary have the same ranks as the RSLPF?” he asked. “We want this legislation rescinded. We need to know clearly the jurisdiction of the operations in the city constabulary to investigate only summary matters. We are firm believers that island-wide powers will cause direct confusion with the regular members of the armed force. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that this legislation does not move forward in its current form.”
The PWA president went as far as to call into question the character of some city police members. He also insinuated the bill was politically motivated. “We know that the city constabulary has recruited persons of questionable character, with no credibility, at the highest ranks of that institution. Is this administration creating its own force to adhere to its own politically motivated objective?”
Kenny Anthony had expressed similar sentiments while the Bill was being debated in the House. Said the Vieux Fort South MP: “It’s highly dangerous when a parliament decides to enact legislation for the sole vanity of an individual who is charged with a responsibility!”
ACP Charlery: “The mayor did not write that legislation and I would certainly hate to think that this Bill was passed for his sole vanity. That would say a lot about our legislature.” He went on to paint a picture of the constabulary quite different from Chicot’s, describing its relationship with the RSLPF as “symbiotic”. He added: “I’ve had conversations with Mr. Modeste, who is their chief, and I asked for manpower, that he delivered. It’s been a symbiotic relationship. We were getting numbers and they got to go on a few coordinated police exercises with us. I told him his officers would gain from us the level of experience in the environment itself, an awareness that comes only with time and being out there doing real police exercises. When we did the simultaneous traffic checks, you would have noticed we had traffic officers on board, SSU, Drugs, CID and the city police. So it’s been a coordinated effort.” He argued that the demonstrated combative attitude toward increasing constabulary powers will not help in the fight against crime. “It is a community effort; the regular police can’t do it alone.”
Charlery explained what may have contributed to his perspective. “I spent almost six years at Bordelais as an administrator. That environment brought certain things to the fore, where ego had to take a back seat; where it mattered not who got the credit and who came up with the brilliant idea. As long as the brilliant idea can be born, you must do what you can to take that through. Understand that the reason for having a police force, or two or three forces, is to detect and prevent crime.”
