24th October 2019
Four police officers have been dismissed three currently on suspension been charged for committing offences, one for perjury
By St Lucia Times
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Four police officers have been dismissed from the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) this year as a result of investigations into accusations of indiscipline against them, it has been announced.
Addressing a press briefing Thursday, Assistant Commissioner of Police George Nicholas, said nine officers have been convicted through the disciplinary system and fined.
“The total fine amounts to 64 days pay for those nine police officers, so that’s an average 7 days pay per officer,” Nicholas stated.
He also disclosed that three officers are currently on suspension, having been charged for committing offences – one for perjury, another for possession of drugs and one for assault.
“Only on Monday of this week we had another police officer who was arrested and charged for wounding and he is on bail,” the senior police official stated.
“We have a way of dealing with our police officers when they infringe that same law that we seek to enforce,” Nicholas asserted.
He said the number of matters pending against police officers is a cause for concern.
Nicholas explained that the figures he quoted related to officers who had been convicted.
“There are other matters that were found to be false; there were matters that the complainants decided that they wanted an informal resolution to the matter and so forth,” he said.
He said that on a daily basis officers are reminded that while enforcing the law, they need to confine their actions within the framework of he law.
“We cannot break the same law that we are trying to enforce,” Nicholas declared.
He made the comments while urging citizens not to hold back from making reports against law enforcement officers who are deemed to be errant.
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