BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SENATOR Nigel Carty remains adamant that corruption exists in the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and has insinuated that Commissioner Ian Queeley should have launched an investigation in regards to his recent statements rather being dismissive.
“The Commissioner of Police, therefore, in response to my allegation ought to have set about to get to the bottom of the matter rather than appearing to be dismissive of the issue. His dismissal of the issue may very well embolden the offenders. He knows that there is always a possibility and the potential for corruption in the Police Force.”
Carty made made this statement, among others, last Friday (Nov. 19) on a local radio station in response to what the Commissioner said in a nationwide address aired on ZIZ Television and Radio Stations last week Wednesday (Nov. 16).
“The High Command of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force at this time registers its strong disappointment at comments made in the broadcast media by a Federal Parliamentarian, the Honourable Nigel Carty, an Opposition Senator in the Federal Parliament.
“The remarks made by Senator Carty against the dedicated men and women of the Police Service can only be described as irresponsible, calculated to erode and undermine the herculean efforts of the Police Service to ensure public safety. It is unfortunate that Senator Carty, whose responsibility as a Parliamentarian is to uphold the law and the preservation of the same, would engage in this type of behaviour.”
Queeley also said that it is Senator Carty’s responsibility as a citizen and a Member of Parliament to report to the police any information or evidence regarding criminal wrong doing by anyone, including the police.
The Top Cop was at the time responding to statements made by Senator Carty in which he accused the Police Force of manufacturing success stories in the removal of illegal firearms off the streets of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Carty, at the time, was a guest on Freedom FM’s programme, ‘Issues’, on Wednesday (Nov. 16).
The Senator spoke of complaints he heard from members of the Police Force against some of their colleagues.
“Recently we heard, for example, of police officers complaining that policemen are themselves planting guns, planting weapons in places and then claiming that they are new find of weapons to give the public the impression that the police and the Government are in some way making headway in relation to the fight on crime.”
He emphatically stated that such actions are being planned, implanted and perpetrated by criminal-minded individuals.
“These are criminal activities and the minds that are behind the planning and implementation and perpetration of these actions are criminal minds. There are criminal minds in the Police Force and there are criminal minds in the Government.
“It is very disheartening to right-thinking citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis that when we think we should be able to trust our police officers, that they are in fact the ones planting some of these weapons and then going and picking them up and claiming that they have had success in taking guns off the street.”
In his response to Commissioner Queeley, Carty pointed out that only recently “a young police officer was caught corrupting himself in the drug trade. Others are suspected of similar conduct and some on even a larger scale”.
The Parliamentarian intimated that as a former Cabinet member, he has a good working relationship with the Federation’s security forces.
He also said that the majority of police officers are professionals, but a turn a blind eye should not be turned to rouge cops as “it is often one bad apple that spoils the bunch”.
Conclusively, the former government minister said: “Commissioner could have discreetly engaged some relevant individuals to discern any possible leads to the perpetrator. My only hope on this matter is that my statement has caused greater vigilance by our men and women in uniform of their own peers and at would-be perpetrators, however few and far between, would recognise that there is a network of informants who would ensure that information of their corrupt actions eventually comes to light.”
