Senior cop wants stiffer penalties for cops absent from court

While the police continue to implement different measures to get police complainants to attend court, one senior officer is suggesting stiffer penalties to tackle errant officers who are absent on multiple occasions.

Speaking at the police media briefing on Sackville Street, Port of Spain, on Thursday, Snr Supt Nazrudeen Pragg of the Court and Process Branch recommended that failing to attend court should be raisedfrom a Category B to a Category A offence, so that they could face suspension or dismissal by the Police Commissioner.

Pragg said at present officers who failed to attend court were liable to a fine of a day's pay.

"It's difficult for the State to have to pay for when officers don't appear in court.

"The intention is to move them (non-appearances) to a Category A offence so that the Commissioner of Police will have the power then to dismiss the officer.

"Why should the State have to pay thousands of dollars? We could discipline the officer today, but what happens to the victim of the crime? What redress do they really have when they are robbed and all sorts of things happen to them?"

He said in the past the senior superintendent of theCourt and Process Branch would receive a list of officers who failed to attend court on a monthly basis, but shortened the timeframe to a day to allow better management in addressing absenteeism.

"We have a statute of limitation of three days in which to serve the officers, and we have been doing that in 2020.

"As they reach my office and my desk, every single matter...is dismissed on a daily basis. In that way we can get the matter going discipline-wise so the officer will know he will be penalised."

Pragg, who became head of the branch in late 2019, said various policies were implemented to better streamline the compilation of evidence against suspects in cases while ensuring investigating officers attended court.

These included an increase in the time for consultation between police complainants and prosecutors to ensure files were ready to take to court and assigning officers temporarily to the Court and Process unit to give them enough time to prepare their files.

Pragg also noted that in cases where complainants to do not attend court, he personally notifies the officer's head of division.

Contacted for comment, president of the police Social Welfare Association (TTPSSWA) ASP Gideon Dickson said he did not agree with Pragg's recommendation to raise the priority of the offence, saying it was oversimplified the problem.

"It's not a fair statement to make in light of an officer's appearance to court. In one breath we want to deter crime, so we need visibility, and to get visibility you need manpower.

"I think that statement does not give consideration to the other variables that would impact on an officer's attendence to court and be fair to an officer in a criminal justice system which has not been functioning."