Chicot blasts DPP: ‘Let us stop playing with the lives of people!’

Police Welfare Association (PWA) President Travis Chicot on Tuesday urged Director of Public Prosecutions Daarsrean Greene to make a pronouncement on IMPACS. Chicot’s plea comes days after United States Ambassador Linda Taglialatela announced that the U.S. government will resume cooperation with select units of the Royal Sant Lucia Police Force (RSLPF). The U.S. suspended assistance to the RSLPF in 2013, following allegations of extra-judicial killings.

The Ambassador noted that while Leahy Law restrictions are still in place on some parts of the Force, “We have been able to identify a number of RSLPF units with which we will be able to resume full cooperation and assistance. This means that those units, such as the Marine and Immigration units, will again be able to enjoy the full benefits of United States security assistance that we are planning to begin as we speak.”

The PWA President described the ambassador’s announcement as a “move in the right direction”, but has expressed concern over the implicated officers. Justice delayed, the president said, is justice denied. “We know that there are members who are adversely affected by some of the allegations levelled at them,” Chicot said during a June 22 appearance on MBC’s Police Insight. “And we ought to understand that it is important that persons who’ve been given certain responsibilities, must perform their duties. We would want to believe that within quick time, an announcement can be made by the DPP as it pertains to what is happening with some of those matters that are within his purview.”

The president considers it “very hypocritical” to speak of breaches of human rights on one end, while on the other end the officers’ rights are being breached. He declared that their right to promotion and upward mobility within the Force is being infringed upon. “…All you have is an allegation at this point. To have an allegation hanging over them now and to exclude them from training, to exclude them from promotions, to exclude them from working in certain departments, this is absurd! That cannot be the standard of the day.”

Chicot says that the officers should not be treated as if they are already guilty. The officers, he said, are day by day waiting to learn of their fate. “That should not be the standard at which we operate within an organisation!” he said. “We’ve said it before: if you have evidence to charge, charge. If you don’t have evidence to charge, come out and make a statement. Let us stop playing with the lives of people.”

He added: “I’m not even worried about whether he makes it before the next general election or not but by now, he should have made a statement on IMPACS….So if they cannot get promoted for God’s sake and they cannot work in prestigious departments or specialised departments, should we just agree that we pay them and allow them to stay at their home till the DPP makes his statement? To me, that is more reasonable.”

At last week’s press briefing, the US Ambassador also stated that before the Leahy Law is completely lifted, there must be a “significant effort” to determine whether in fact the alleged extra-judicial killings took place, and whether there is sufficient evidence to go forward to a trial. There is no requirement that people must be found guilty or convicted of charges, she stressed.

Said Ambassador Taglialatela: “So it’s up to the DPP to put together his best case or cases. It’s up to him to determine and to document those cases that can’t move forward because there isn’t sufficient evidence and from there we can move forward to go back to the United States government and discuss whether… we can then remove the restrictions.”