Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

The Supreme Court has upheld the dismissal of 11 members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force for alleged criminal activities.

The 11 were notified in December 2005 that they were to be retired in the public interest but challenged the decision of the Police Services Commission in the Supreme Court.

Dr. Peter Phillips, the Minister of National Security, welcomed the court's decision, saying it had helped "to strengthen the resolve of the Ministry of National Security to effectively deal with discipline, and fight corruption in the force".

Plan to appeal

Attorney-at-law Arthur Kitchin said the claimants, who were seeking to have the decision of the Police Services Commission quashed, will be appealing the decision, even as high as the ultimate appeals court, United Kingdom-based Privy Council, if necessary.

The Police Services Commission decided on December 16, 2005, that the policemen were to be retired because of their alleged involvement in illegal activities. It was alleged that some of them were involved in a drug-smuggling ring which facilitated protection to drug couriers travelling through the airports.

Some of the claimants were attached to the Narcotics Division's branch in Montego Bay while others were attached to other police units in the Second City. They are Detective Sergeant Dalton Samuels; Corporal Norma Porter-Thaxter; Detective Corporal Ryan Dwyer; corporals Enos Williams, Teeshan Gordon and Joy Streete; and, constables Kenneth Brown, Oral Hylton, Owen Condell, Dwayne Mullings and Elvid Vassell.

Kitchin had argued before Justice Marva McIntosh in the Judicial Review Court that the cases should have been prosecuted in the courts, because the allegations were criminal in nature.

Precedence

Solicitor General Michael Hylton, Q.C., who along with attorneys-at-law Symone Mayhew and Amina Maknoon represented the Attorney-General, asked the judge to dismiss the motion.

Hylton referred to the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Kenyouth Handel Smith, a policeman who had raised the same point of law as that raised by the 11 claimants.

The Court of Appeal, in dismissing Smith's appeal in November last year, ruled that the Police Services Commission could take steps to retire persons in the public interest where it was not appropriate to take disciplinary proceedings.

The court said further that the fact that the allegations could have led to criminal charges did not mean the state had to pursue those options.

The judge relied on the ruling in Smith's case and dismissed the motion.