BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PARLIAMENTARY Representative for Constituency Number Two, the Hon. Marcella Liburd has claimed that a statement made by Police Commissioner Ian Queeley against her is misleading, disingenuous and unfortunate.
Liburd, who is also the Chairperson of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, made this pronouncement, among others, in response to the Top Cop’s claim that a comment she made at the recently-concluded National Crime Symposium about the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF) was untrue and without merit or foundation.
In a Police press release. Commissioner Queeley said: “The High Command of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force at this time registers its strong disappointment to comments made during the stakeholder remarks at the National Crime Symposium by the Honourable Marcella Liburd, an Opposition member in the Federal Parliament.
“During her remarks, The Honourable member stated that ‘...the Police arrested the brother of the former Commissioner of Police, and in the Official Police Report, they referred to the...the report said he was the brother of the former Commissioner of Police.’ She went on to say, ‘I in all my life have never seen in an official Police report...when it was relevant to say who the person was connected to.’”
The Top Cop went on to say that “the statement made by the Honourable member was untrue and without merit or foundation”, while emphasising that the law enforcement body embraces the highest standard of integrity in its reporting of incidents to the public and exercises great responsibility in ensuring the rights of the accused, victims and families are not infringed upon.
“It is unfortunate that the member used the platform of a National Crime Symposium to level such a baseless attack on the integrity of your Police Service,” he added.
In response, MP Liburd said: “I am truly appalled at the attack on me by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ian Queeley, that ‘I used the platform of a National Crime Symposium to level a baseless attack on the integrity of the Police Service.’ Not only is this untrue but it is also disingenuous.”
She intimated that for him to suggest that her contribution at the Symposium was calculated and designed to attack the integrity of the Police Force is false, misleading and appears to be a deliberate attempt to discredit her and the contribution she made.
“The Commissioner fully knows that I was clearly criticising the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Security and the Government for politicizing the police force and gave two examples to support my point.”
Referring to her contributions at the Symposium, Liburd offered an explanation to the comment she made about the Police Force.
“In one example, I said that an official police report, in reporting on the arrest of the brother of the former Commissioner, mentioned that he was the brother of the former Commissioner. It was my recollection that it came from an official police report. If Commissioner Queeley says that is not the case, I take no issue with that.”
She also made reference to another comment involving Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris and members of the RSCNPF; a comment to which she declared that Commissioner Queeley failed to mention in his statement.
“The other example that I gave made reference to the very first meeting between the Prime Minister and Minister and National Security and the police. I said that in that meeting the Prime Minister, among other things said: ‘We get the rid of them’ in obvious reference to the Labour administration. In response some police officers clapped and cheered in agreement.
“Commissioner Queeley failed to make mention of that in his statement. I am therefore asking Commissioner Queeley whether this in fact took place at that meeting and if it did whether this was an attack on the integrity of the police service.”
The Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Number Two inferred that Commissioner Queeley’s statement deliberately took her remarks out of context to make a political statement.
“I am rather disappointed that the Commissioner allowed himself to be used to satisfy a political agenda. The Commissioner’s statement is misleading, disingenuous and unfortunate,” MP Liburd intoned.
She proclaimed that the citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis “would much prefer the Commissioner to spend his valuable time in the fight against crime rather than ‘picking fights’ with opposition politicians”.
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