...not so fast TTPS Female suspects should not be subjected to humiliation

FEMALE suspects should not be subjected to any humiliation, inhumane or degrading treatment and searches by men should not be the usual practice.

This was advice of Police Complaints Authority (PCA) deputy director Michelle Solomon-Baksh in response to a statement by Inspector Sean Sookram of the Court and Process Branch on Wednesday that male police officers are allowed to arrest and search female suspects without their female colleagues being present.

Sookram was at the time addressing the weekly police press briefing at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain.

Sookram quoted the Police Service Act, the Summary Courts Act and the Criminal Law Act, which gives police officers their powers of arrest. He said the law did not raise the issue of the gender of either an officer or person being arrested.

Solomon-Baksh, however, pointed to the Police Service’s regulations, in particular Standing Order 47(8), which prescribes for the officer in charge of a division to ensure that female officers in that division are made available to perform duties, which include participating in raids and searches which may involve women and children.

“It is therefore a practice and policy set out by the police themselves to have a female officer act on a daily basis. So it is only in extreme and limited circumstances that a male officer will have to search a female suspect,” Solomon-Baksh said.

“The PCA is also of the view that the Police Service has not only implemented its own rules to ensure that female officers are always present but it is also guided by the law.

“Female suspects should not be subjected to any humiliation, inhumane or degrading treatment and searches by men should not be the usual practice. Furthermore, when a male officer searches a female suspect, an account and justification should be given for the absence of the female officer as prescribed by Standing Order 47(8).”

The PCA’s deputy director also said last September, the authority advised the Police Service on complaints it received about the absence of female officers during raids and searches.