'PCA should probe police killings'
By
Nikita Braxton-Benjamin
Story Created:
Oct 30, 2012 at 9:51 PM ECT
Story Updated:
Oct 31, 2012 at 9:39 AM ECT
Sergeant Anand Ramesar, president of the Police Social and Welfare Association, believes that it is a waste of resources and a "clash" to have the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) and other police bodies conducting parallel investigations into the same police killing.
His comments came after Nigel "Beenie Man" Jones was shot dead by police officers last Friday as he returned from working in a garden near his home in Charuma Village, Biche.
Police officers said Jones attacked them with a cutlass and was shot once on the right side of his body. But residents said Jones only had seeds, bananas and oranges in a bag.
They blocked roads on Saturday in protest at what they described as a "wrongful killing".
Officials from the PCA have since met Jones's family as part of its investigations. In response to the killing, PCA director Gillian Lucky met with Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams on Monday.
Both agreed that there has to be a quicker response time to "the lengthy investigative process in matters of fatal police shootings, if the public's confidence in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and the process is to restored".
Ramesar said these investigations should be done by the PCA which is an independent body and was competent to carry out investigations.
He said that having the PCA investigate, while another investigation is being done by the police, was "unnecessary, a duplicity of the work and a waste of resources".
Ramesar said "sometimes you may have a clash between the two parties over the same issues".
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