Police fail to attend court, 793 cases dismissed

By the end of 2019, the courts had thrown out 1,843 cases because police complainants failed to attend hearings, according to the Police Service Commission (PSC) annual report for the year.

A police complainant is the officer who lays charges against an accused and is responsible for ensuring all state witnesses attend and evidence is produced to be used against the accused in court. Every criminal case must have a police complainant.

The 61-page report was laid in Parliament on October 5, a little over a month after Police Commissioner Gary Griffith held a media conference highlighting his high marks in an appraisal by the PSC.

According to the report, of the cases that were dismissed, 793 were for serious crimes.

This category includes gun possession, rape and other sexual assaults, attempted murder, kidnapping for ransom and murder. The report did not list what the cases were.

But it said, “In 2019 the Commission requested that the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of the Police Service Commission Secretariat continue to monitor the non-appearance of police complainants in court and report on the systems implemented by the Commissioner of Police and the progress in this matter. For the period under review, the courts dismissed...1,843 cases due to the non-appearance of police complainants.”

In the last quarter of the year there was an exponential increase in dismissed cases, the report said, with a 129 per cent increase in dismissed cases compared to the previous quarter. In the first quarter, 384 matters were thrown out owing to the non-appearance of police. Then there was a decrease in the second quarter, with 320 cases dropped. The third quarter also saw a slight up tick in thrown out cases from 320 to 346, still less than the first quarter. Then in the months of October to December, police officers non-appearance led to 793 cases being dismissed.

The report added: “There was no improvement during 2019 in the number of cases dismissed due to the non-appearance of police in court. In keeping with the request from the Commission, the CoP was required to provide a report on a quarterly basis which indicates the number of cases dismissed, the types of cases dismissed, and the disciplinary action taken to impact on the reduction of non-appearance of police complainants in courts.”

On September 2, Griffith addressed this issue saying it was the one blemish on his appraisal from the PSC. He said he worked “day and night” to address the issue and in 2020 there was a considerable decrease in complainant absenteeism.

He said then: “Court matters were dismissed due to the non-appearance of police officers. This had been going on in the police service for decades and I could not have dealt with it in a year. That was the one 'poor' (rating) I received in my appraisal. It was a problem we have encountered for years with officers not going to court when they were supposed to.”

He added that with his intervention there was a 97 per cent reduction in absenteeism between 2019 to 2020 for the period April to June. Documents from the Court and Process Branch showed a 100 per cent decrease in absenteeism in four of the nine police divisions. The about turn was done in Northern, Eastern, South-Western and Tobago. In Port of Spain Division there was a 96 per cent reduction while Central and Southern Divisions each had a 94 per cent decrease in police complainant absentia. There were no statistics on the remaining divisions since there are no courts in both North-Eastern and Western Divisions.

From 2015 to 2019 a total of 7,659 cases were dismissed solely on the basis of non-appearance of police officers, with 2019 having the highest figure. In 2017, which had the second highest overall, 1,825 matters were thrown out. Between 2015 and 2017 there was a yearly increase of dismissed matters with the annual totals being 1,019, 1,345 and 1,825 respectively. In 2018, the year Griffith became top cop, the number dropped from 1,825 to 1,627. The following year there was a 13 per cent increase in absenteeism.

In January 2019, head of the police service’s legal unit, Christian Chandler told Sunday Newsday that his aim was to reduce the number of cases thrown out at court for lack of police attendance.

He said then: "I definitely want to improve the prosecution arm of the Police Service. What I intend to do is to revisit some of the regulations in the Police Service Act. Police have to make attending court their priority; that is something that has been falling by the wayside. One of my intentions is to ensure police attend court so that cases will not collapse due to their absence."

The PSC report also stated that 384 traffic offences were dismissed for lack of appearance, and 320 minor offences and 346 minor crimes dismissed. Minor offences included obscene language, loitering and disorderly behaviour while minor crimes include possession of marijuana, assault by beating and possession of a weapon.

Griffith, not pleased with the number of cases dismissed, sought to discipline his officers, according to the report. Of the 1,843 matters, 926 officers have had disciplinary actions brought against them with 611 officers having notices of intended disciplinary prepared but not yet served to them. Eight officers had reports sent to the offices of the Assistant Superintendents in charge of discipline in the nine police divisions and 260 notified that there will be action taken against them. The remaining 38 officers have since retired, resigned or are suspended from the police service.

“The Commission expressed its concern to the CoP about the upward trending of non-appearance of police complainants in court; the number of cases related to serious crimes which were dismissed, and about the vast number of notices that are prepared and not served. The Commission was advised by the CoP that a number of measures and initiatives are being pursued.”

Griffith, the report said, listed five things the police will do to address the concerns. They are: revamping the disciplinary process; introducing a complainant unit; establishing a compliance and monitoring unit; making non-appearance at court a matter which can lead to police officers being dismissed; and requesting a summons from the court under the Summary Courts Act chapter 4:20, for police complainants to appear after failing to do so on a stipulated number of occasions. He added that a departmental order was issued to ensure the steps taken will be enforced.

The PSC said it will continue to monitor this issue "in an effort to ensure that the attendance in court by police complainants is improved."