BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OUTGOING Assistant Commissioner of Police with responsibility for Crime, Joseph Liburd is of the view that lack of evidence resulting from witnesses not testifying is the main reason why so many cases taken before the courts were dismissed.
“Ninety percent of our cases that have dismissed because of lack of evidence is not because the evidence was not there in the first place, but because persons who gave the evidence at the last stage backed out for fear of their own lives or the lives of their family or something.”
Liburd was at the time responding to questions from the media at a press conference held yesterday (Nov. 24) at the Conference Room of the University of the West Indies.
He told the media that another reason is that witnesses may have decided not to appear in court because they were “paid off”.
Liburd also said that most of the cases were not dismissed because of poor investigation or improper presentation of evidence in court, even though a few might have resulted from these two factors, “but because the main witness, for some reason, just changed their mind and don’t want to go further”.
He suggested that the police and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions should work together to eradicate all loopholes in those cases where poor investigation or the proper procedure was not followed.
“But in the other case, where we have the biggest problem, it is very difficult. But I would say that every person would have to understand that each time a criminal gets away because he or she fails to give the evidence that they ought to give, it is one other criminal out there to continue to cause crime. And we all need to be strong, assertive and decide, well, wrong is wrong, no matter who does it and no matter what the situation is we can’t continue to be prisoners in our own homes and fearful for our lives. Because if you are fearful that somebody would do you something, and they are out, they can still do you something; so there is no need to be fearful,” he added.
Liburd responded in the negative when asked if the low detection rate of crime had affected his career. He however emphasised that he would have loved to see a 100 percent detection rate but was not surprised by it being as low as it is.
“I know as things get more and more challenging and more and more people are fearful of their lives, it would be like this; so, it is no surprise to me that our detection rate is as low as it is. In most of these cases it is not that we don’t know who did it, but we cannot solve the crime because we cannot take the persons who did it to court. You may get information that X is the one who did that murder and that’s all you may have. Everything may be pointing to X but the evidence is not forthcoming,” he explained.
Addressing the subject of corruption, Liburd said that it exists in the police force as it is in all organisations the world over.
“I believe that there is corruption in every organisation in this world. We would have corruption in the police force because police officers have much discretionary powers, and once you give discretionary powers to persons you can have corruption.
Additionally, because of the salary of police officers may not be as good as some of us may like it to be, you can have corruption. We have had quite a number of persons who have been charged criminally for matters pertaining to corruption in the police force. So I can’t say there is no corruption. The only thing I would say is that all the police officers that I know that came into the police force since I have been here came from the society which is full of corruption.”
He also spoke to the issue of the force’s approach to crime, noting that a proactive one was taken but much more could be done.
“The police force has been taking a proactive approach to crime and I am of the view that we can do much more in that light. When I look at the police force and what has been done with Operation Future…that is proactive. When I look at what has been done with Boys’ Club and the town hall meetings and other groups that the police had been working with, I see it as proactive.”
In an attempt to strengthen his position on the force’s proactive approach, Liburd said he had been the intermediary between the police and gangs.
“I have been very intimate in working between the gangs and the police, and I can tell you that behind the scenes a lot of work is ongoing; had been on and is continuing where we had been working closely with the gangs. I can say now that if it were not for all those proactive measures, especially with gangs, we would have had a lot more murders in St. Kitts-Nevis. But these are the things that people may not see and may not have known.”
He however stressed the need for training in interviewing skills and also that of forensic for which he noted a laboratory should be had in the Eastern Caribbean, because forensic is the way to go for the solving of most crimes. He pointed out that it is very expensive at times to get exhibits to the United Kingdom and the United States of America; therefore a laboratory close to home would minimise the cost.
Liburd dismissed speculations that his resignation was premised on a top position at the Four Seasons Resort on Nevis.
“So far, no one has offered me that job. And maybe they have not offered me that job because they know that I would not take it. I have two children working at Four Seasons and I will not be working at Four Seasons.”
ACP Joseph Liburd at this time is among the top six senior officers to have served the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force for more than three decades; some of whom are still serving members. He commenced his preretirement leave yesterday, at the end of which he would have completed 33 years of unblemished, professional, dedicated and conscientious service to the nation.
