MR. Prime Minister, “rude and out of place” does not begin to describe the behaviour of the executive of the Police Welfare Association.
Section 94 of the Constitution of Saint Lucia reads in part as follows:
94. Police Force
(1) The power to appoint a person to hold or act in the office of Commissioner of Police and, subject to the provisions of section 96, the power to remove the Commissioner from office shall vest in the Governor General, acting in accordance with the advice of the Public Service Commission:
Provided that before the Commission tenders advice to the Governor General with respect to the appointment of any person to hold the office of Commissioner the Commission shall consult with the Prime Minister and if the Prime Minister signifies his or her objection to the appointment of any person to the office the Commission shall not advise the Governor General to appoint that person.
Section 26 of the Police Act, Cap 14.01 of the Laws of Saint Lucia reads in part as follows:
“26. PUNISHMENT OF SERIOUS OFFENCES
(1) A police officer commits an offence punishable on indictment and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years who—
(a) begins, raises, abets, countenances or excites mutiny, or causes or joins in any sedition amongst the members of the Force;”
For the avoidance of doubt, “mutiny” is described in the Oxford dictionary as open revolt against constituted authority, and “sedition” as agitation against the authority of the state or conduct or speech tending towards rebellion or a breach of public order
If we are to accept the word of the Permanent Secretary– and this lady has no axe to grind– and the word of the Acting Chief of Police, this brouhaha about the resignation of the Chief of Police has been brought to the attention of the authorities via the media. To put it another way, the hierarchy of the Police Welfare Association have, with deliberateness, embarked on a course of confrontation with the authorities via the media.
The Police Act states at section 5 “The Force shall be employed in St. Lucia for the maintenance of law and order, the preservation of peace, the protection of life and property, the prevention and detection of crime, the enforcement of all laws, and regulations with which it is charged……”
We hold no brief for or against any particular police commissioner. What we do insist be upheld is respect for the office. The commissioner of police is the head of all that stands between the society and anarchy. What the Police Welfare Association would have us do is revert to a state of lawlessness and anarchy where when anyone does not get his way then by brute force, bad manners or bullying they seek to enforce their will.
Mr. Prime Minister, the issue is not Mr. Broughton. He is almost irrelevant. The issue is that a disciplined force such as the police or the army, were St. Lucia to have one, relies entirely on the hierarchy of command. This is not to endorse incompetence, it is to insist on protocol.
One wonders why the spokesman for the association has been transferred rather than suspended and the intervention of the Director of Public Prosecutions invited