…rogue ranks will be disciplined, transferred
BY MICHAEL YOUNGE
A new task force has been set up within ‘C’ Division to meet and review all of the unsolved crime cases within the policing division with the aim of determining what else can be done to bring closure to a number of matters.
‘C’ Division Commander Calvin Brutus told Inews yesterday that the task force has a clearly defined mandate.
“Those matters that we were unable to solve last year, we have had a task force set up to review these matters and see which area we have lapsed and which evidence we would have missed with a review of solving these cases”, he reported.
He said that the body would also focus its effort on boosting the level of relations and cooperation between ‘C’ Division and other important policing divisions.
“Criminals commit offences in one Division and many times they leave that Division and venture to another one so interdivisional cooperation is important to solving crimes”, he said while saying that the task force will also look at this.
Commander Brutus said that his Division had adequate resources and personnel to handle the crime situation there but argued that it is the deployment and effective management of resources that will result in the expected outcomes as far as crime prevention and reduction are concerned.
He noted too that in order for more success to be achieved in the fight against crime along the East Coast corridor, there must be a deliberate and sustained effort to root out internal corruption and rogue ranks, while at the same time improving community relations that could lead to an unprecedented boost in the levels of confidence and trust reposed in lawmen who are serving citizens there.
Brutus, who recently returned from annual leave, said 2017 saw his division achieving an overall 12 per cent reduction in serious crimes while at the same time clinching a two per cent reduction in fatal accidents.
He said this was achieved because of several new crime fighting approaches that were rolled out in 2017 which saw his division improving its community relations and ties through the social crime preventing initiatives and “Intel driven policing”.
Asked first about the increasing concerns of citizens within his catchment area about the alarming levels of unprofessional conduct by ranks while dispatching their duties at the community levels, Police stations and roadways, Brutus said the standing orders and Police policy is clear as day on this.
“We look at addressing it through several approaches because it is both an internal and external problem. At the local level, we do so through our instruction classes”, he marked before revealing that he recently initiated a monthly muster where all available ranks are briefed on a variety of issues and told how to address a number of situations that may prove difficult.
“As soon as those complaints about unprofessionalism come, we investigate them and take action. Many cases are pending. Some persons were transferred while others are dismissed and we will continue in that vein. We look at education and the coercive measures that is taking acting through OPR and at other levels,” he reported.
Brutus said decisions are mostly taken on documented reports but denied that there was an increase in those reports over the past two years. He admitted that these complaints have been constant as the division is in the process of being decentralised.
