BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WEIGHING in on the recent conflict between Opposition Parliamentarian Hon. Nigel Carty and Commissioner of Police Ian Queeley, G. A. Dwyer Astaphan believes that the former erred by making the information he purportedly received public.
Last week, Carty – while speaking on Freedom FM 106.5’s Issues programme – indicated that police officers are complaining that some of their colleagues are planting guns, and having taken possession of them, claim that they would have taken another firearm off the Federation’s streets.
Those statements led to Commissioner Queeley responding in condemnation of the allegations.
Astaphan, a former Member of Parliament, in an interview with SKNVibes, expressed the view that the responsible thing for Carty to have done after receiving such information was to have a conversation with the CoP.
“The error that he made, in my opinion, was going public with it without having a conversation with the Commissioner of Police. That’s what he should do as a responsible citizen. And he is not measured by the same yardstick that we use to measure the average citizen. He is a Member of Parliament, he is expected to act at a higher level of responsibility and in my view he failed that miserably. He should have spoken with the Commissioner of Police.
“And indeed if there is any truth to the suggestion, then there might be some illegality involved if people are planting guns and then saying that they have found them to make the police look good. If there is any illegality involved, then whatever information he may have could be helpful to the police in proceeding against the person or persons involved. So either way you cut it, I believe that he ought to have had a conversation with the Commissioner.”
Astaphan said Carty’s publicly-made comments could have a negative effect on the public/police relationship. He also suggested that Carty’s comments may have been politically motivated.
“The comment also can erode confidence in the police, can cause people to perceive the police as having no integrity and professionalism, and that does no good for the Police Force and for the community. So he made a mistake in my view by going to the public with it, and it would not surprise me if political motivation was involved there. Maybe he got a little excited and decided to cough up this information, real or imagined.”
The social commentator is of the view that if Carty were inclined to hold conversation with the CoP about what he purports to have heard, he would have already done so.
“And I do think that the Police Commissioner needs to have a chat with Carty. The ball is in the Commissioner’s court because, had Carty been inclined to do so, he would have done so first.”
