By Glenroy Sinclair,
Staff Reporter
THE CASES of some 100 policemen who have been off the job for nearly a year facing departmental charges, remain in a state of limbo because the investigations are incomplete and files are missing in some cases, the Jamaica Police Federation says.
"Since January we have taken up to 30 cases to the Commissioner for him to review and the majority of these persons have since been reinstated," Corporal David White, Welfare Officer of the Jamaica Police Federation, told The Gleaner yesterday.
He said the general explanation for the long delays was that investigations were incomplete and that files could not be located in some instances. Also, Corporal White said there were instances in which policemen who had faced criminal charges had won their cases in court but had yet to be reinstated.
Corporal White said the federation was seeking redress in the outstanding cases.
However Deputy Commissioner Sidney Brooks, who is in charge of Administration in the Jamaica Constabulary, said he was unable to confirm the figure of 100.
"I don't have any evidence about missing files, but what I can say is that the long delays are for more than one reason. Some of the delays cannot be avoided. It (an investigation) has to go through a process to facilitate the accused with natural justice, the procedure laid down in the regulations, plus legal rulings," he said. Brooks.
One of the cases still to be concluded is that of Constable Michael Hylton who was ordered interdicted by Police Commissioner Francis Forbes on December 24, 1999, two days after the conclusion of the Coroner's Inquest into the death of Michael Gayle, a mentally-ill man who was beaten to death at a roadblock in Olympic Gardens, Kingston, manned by soldiers and police..
Constable Hylton told the inquest that he had made a false statement in the station diary at Olympic Gardens police station, relating to the Gayle incident. As a result he was interdicted.
But after nine months off the job, he was advised in September that he is to face a court of inquiry.
Commenting on the issue, Supt. Lloyd Haley, who is charge of the Office of Professional Responsibility, said his department had passed on Hylton's file "long ago".
Supt. Haley said his department could account for every file that left his office and that the only thing his department might be guilty of was the length of time spent investigating an allegation against a member of the police force.
Deputy Commissioner Brooks explained that when members of the force were charged departmentally, the charges were prepared by the Disciplinary Desk in the Administration Office and a copy sent to the accused, who later responded to the charges in writing, before getting lawyers and going before the court of inquiry.
He said this process "takes a little time", but the panel which dealt with those cases at the area level met daily.
