EIGHT RANK-and-file officers who have been asked to retire in the public interest, are to challenge the Office of the Police Services Commission's actions in the Supreme Court.
The Sunday Gleaner was able to obtain several pieces of vital documents relating to the cases. The officers who are all attached to the Narcotics Division, have been accused of attempting to export illegal drugs
They are filing orders of prohibition to prevent the commission from causing or compelling them to retire. The applicants are also seeking an order to quash the decisions of the commission.
According to the documents, the officers are seeking relief on the grounds that the commission's orders were unlawful and in breach of section 26 of the Police Service Regulations and the constitution. They claim the Commissioner of Police, Lucius Thomas, and the Police Services Commission prior to the allegations, never gave them a hearing.
They also claim the allegations set against them were never established or proven and that they were being denied the legitimate expectation that they would be allowed to continue their
service in the force.
In one of the cases, the commission accused an officer of conspiring and assisting two drug couriers to smuggle 25 pounds of compressed ganja to the United Kingdom.
In another case, the commission accused another officer of conspiring to steal cocaine exhibits in a case relating to breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act from the St. James divisional storeroom. The exhibits, the commission said, were to be taken to an undisclosed location where the packages were to be opened, extracted and the contents replaced with flour. The flour packages would then be returned to the court and the cocaine sold to a drug dealer.
The commission said the
circumstances led to a loss of confidence in the officers' ability to discharge their function.
"Accordingly, the Police Services Commission, having considered the Commissioner of Police's report and your usefulness to the police force, has agreed to initiate steps towards your retirement from the Jamaica Constabulary Force in the public's interest, in accordance with the provisions of regulation 26 of the Police Service Regulation, 1961," the commission states in the document.
Attorney-at- law, Arthur Kithchen, is representing the applicants. The first hearing is to take place in the Supreme Court on February 8, next year.
