Police top brass called on to be more accountable

Pundits have agreed that there needs to be a greater level of accountablity from the top brass of the police force in order to reduce corruption and restore public trust.
There was also consensus on the suggestion that politicians have a strong influence on who is recruited in the police force and this could undermine the institution.
“If the top slack, as we say in Antigua & Barbuda, the middle and bottom can’t tight. And, public preception is that the top is slack, and justifiably so, the top is slack,” Chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP) Gisele Isaac said on the Big Issues on Sunday.
To support her argument she pointed to several past allegations that have been made against members of the local police force which remain unresolved.
“There is a different standard of operating for regular citizens and police and politically connected people, so, I don’t see how there can be any confidence based on the arrests of these lower level officers,” said Isaac.
In support, the Director of the non-profit Jamaicans for Justice, Horace Levy put forward the view that, “until the police at the very top take on the responsibility of cleaning their own houses, we will not get anywhere”.
He also said it appears that lower level constables are the ones who are normally caught on the wrong side of the law and those at the top are “rarely” caught.
A Police Sergeant from St Vincent and the Grenadines, Brenton Smith, is also of the opinion that all law enforcement officers should be treated equally when they commit crimes.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)