Caught on camera

A HIGH COURT ruling on September 3 upholding the right of citizens to film police exercises provided an alarming snapshot of abuse of power and lack of credibility within the service.

Justice Frank Seepersad – in a lawsuit brought by two individuals who were wrongly arrested, detained for ten hours, then charged with obstruction after simply recording the arrest of a businessman in Chaguanas in 2017 – awarded both claimants $90,000 in damages each.

But the judge also found that a version of events supplied to the court by Snr Supt Richard Smith, who spearheaded the businessman’s arrest, was “unlikely and improbable.” Incredibly, the officer had contended he was made uncomfortable and felt “unsafe,” and was unable to concentrate properly on the arrest because of the videotapers, who he suggested were vocally belligerent.

This was rejected in the round by the judge.

There is no law barring anyone from recording the police. While there is clearly a duty on the part of all citizens not to hinder the actions of the police by assaulting or aiding and inciting others to obstruct or resist, holding up a phone and recording hardly qualifies as obstruction. That should be common sense.

At a time when officers are routinely flouting their own rules on the use of body cameras, the details of this years-old case, and the fact that it was not conceded in court, strike a scandalously hypocritical note. Time and money have been wasted defending a brazen overstep and overreach of authority.

That the facts also disclose the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions George Busby – now a judge – was called in to review the charges against the men and promptly discontinued them speaks to the ways police misfeasance not only dissipates precious resources, but also distracts from what should be the criminal justice system’s real focus: fighting crime.

In this regard, the court’s views, effectively and implicitly, on the credibility of one of the most high-level officers in the police is a serious blow to Erla Harewood-Christopher’s force and its battle to win back the confidence of the public. Snr Supt Smith is a high-level figure, who currently commands the North-Central Division, after being transferred to this position from the Southern Division last year.

As leader of the North-Central Division, he has played a prominent, public-facing role in several troubling police matters, not the least of which related to statements he made in the wake of a police-involved killing in a forested area of St Augustine in May.

Justice Seepersad’s ruling sends a strong signal to police to correct their ways.

But instead of making citizens pay twice – taxpayers pay damages – the State should discipline bad-apple cops or else make them pay personally.

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