Acting Police Commissioner Milton Desir has addressed videos of a verbal altercation involving police officers and a group of individuals at an apparent “party.” Appearing on the National Television Network today , May 7, Desir said: “The Royal Saint Lucia Police Force is privy to videos in circulation of an incident which may have transpired at a location in the vicinity of Union. It would appear that police officers were addressing a situation of social distancing and a party in progress.
“…This incident is of concern to us, especially since it would appear that members of the police force were in attendance. The RSLPF condemns this sort of behavior and have launched investigations into this incident. I must commend at this point, Sgt. Xaiver and his response team, in the calm manner in which they dealt with the situation.”
He continued: “We are actively pursuing these individuals and are calling upon them to report themselves to the CID today or else the police will find them. I will not allow the hard work of the police in maintaining law and order —especially during this COVID period — to be diminished by a few who appear to be on the other side of the law.”
In the statement, he also reminded Saint Lucians that under the Emergency Powers, persons are not permitted to host social events and parties. Asked why the individuals were not arrested at the same time, the acting commissioner said it was the decision of the officer-in-charge after having assessed the situation. The number of individuals and the manner in which they were behaving, may have posed a difficulty in carrying out arrests. Desir said he believed that the right decision was made.
Commenting on the behavior of the responding officers, Desir added: “Every situation defers and persons would respond in a manner having assessed the situation. I believe that the officer did the right thing, which was remaining calm… Especially, we were hearing that persons claimed to be that they were not just an ordinary individual. So I think the officer did the right thing.
“… Probably trying to arrest somebody at the time would involve in a fight, somebody being hurt and so on. I highly commend him and I think that he needs that commendation for remaining calm after all those insults that were thrown at him.”
