‘CLEARED’ COP’S CASE FOR DPP

THE COMPLETED police file into allegations against a senior officer who has acted as commissioner of police is being sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). This move comes 12 days after the said officer was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by the police service.

Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith on Tuesday said the decision was in keeping with his mandate to ensure transparency in the police service and to assure the public there was no cover-up in the police investigation into allegations against Assistant Commissioner of Police Irwin Hackshaw.

A senior police officer, now retired, had referred the Financial Intelligence Unit to investigate a series of substantial deposits into some 15 accounts belonging to Hackshaw and starting from 2014. Hackshaw said the money, which amounted to millions of dollars, was solicited from business people to help offset costs of official police events such as Police Can Cook.

The development follows a report in the
Sunday Newsday that the Police Complaints Authority, which launched a parallel investigation into allegations against Hackshaw in March, had unearthed new information in its probe and was now corroborating whether the funds solicited were in fact used to offset the cost of police events.

Hackshaw, who was recently appointed by the Police Service Commission to act as one of three deputy commissioners of police, has since reverted to his substantive position as Assistant Commissioner of Police.

On Friday, DPP Roger Gaspard, SC, told Newsday he had never been consulted during the police probe into Hackshaw and had not seen the completed file.

The decision by the police investigators not to consult the DPP’s office in such a high-profile case was described as highly irregular by legal sources. Almost all cases of misconduct involving police officers, even minor infractions of the law, are usually referred for legal advice and also to negate any perception of collusion or cover-up.

Griffith said on Tuesday that the review of the police probe was also being done for the benefit of Hackshaw, as some people “want to play prosecutor and even jury to state that what happened is contrary to what was investigated.”

In an interview on Saturday, when asked why the police file on Hackshaw had not been referred to the DPP for advice, Griffith said there was no requirement for every single matter involving police officers to go to the DPP. The police service has its own legal unit headed by attorney Christian Chandler.

Griffith said then that he did not want to overburden the Office of the DPP with cases, but if the investigation was “very technical and it requires guidance, we will go to the DPP.” He said the case involving Hackshaw was a “straightforward investigation.”

On May 28, acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Jayson Forde said the police investigation into the allegations against Hackshaw was closed and no evidence of criminal wrongdoing had been found. Griffith said then, that if new information was unearthed, the case against Hackshaw would be reopened.

The finding of the police investigation, which was led by ACP Winston Nurse, was that the money represented donations by business people to help fund police events and for private security consultancy work Hackshaw had done.

Two former acting commissioners, Stephen Williams and Harold Phillip, in statements to the investigator, said they never gave Hackshaw permission to carry out private work.

Griffith repeated on Tuesday that it was not the ideal situation for donations to the police service to be passing through the personal accounts of officers, and noted that he had since changed that practice with the formation of the I Support Our Service campaign.