Judiciary: Courts are not in police stations

THE Judiciary has objected strongly to statements by Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander about police stations being used as locations for prisoners to make virtual court appearances.

Alexander's comments, which were made at a post-cabinet news conference on May 29, were related to people who are incarcerated in police stations being able to make virtual court appearances.

In a statement on May 30, the Judiciary noted Alexander's views on this matter.

The Judiciary said its policy in criminal matters is that "charged persons appear same day virtually and without the need to be transported to a courthouse."

The Judiciary added, "This arrangement does not convert police stations into courtrooms - it just puts the accused in front of a computer for a virtual appearance."

For subsequent hearings (including trials), the accused appear from either a prison or a virtual access customer centre (VACC), if they are on bail or a courtrooms when the matter is to be heard in-person. The Judiciary said some VACCs are located in court buildings.

"It is important to highlight that the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) had previously informed the Judiciary that they could no longer man the courts, except to be present where there are hearings with prisoners in the dock."

The Judiciary said this is the arrangement that is currently in place and it has asked the police to support the VACC facilities "when accused persons are appearing virtually from them."

Virtual or hybrid methods (partly virtual and party in-person) are provided by the Judiciary with respect to the hearing of certain matters.

This includes domestic violence cases, civil and family cases and appeals.

The Judiciary described the feedback from the court's customers about the use of virtual or hybrid arrangements for the hearing of various court matters as excellent.

But the Judiciary said, "The court continues to enhance its services to better serve the public."

Improved enhancement of these services has several objectives, the statement said.

The Judiciary listed these as "making it more convenient; enabling judges, masters, magistrates, and attorneys to hear matters involving witnesses in various locations (including overseas); and reducing the significant cost to the public purse of transporting prisoners for every hearing or adjournment."

The Judiciary said it looked forward to meeting with Alexander to discuss this and other matters in support of early access to justice.

The Judiciary also added it "would not like to revert to a lower and slower level of activity caused by the inability to have virtual hearings, or to the high expenditure required by having to transport all accused persons for each and every appearance or adjournment."

In a brief telephone interview, Alexander welcomed the Judiciary's invitation to meet.

"Of course we will. We will meet with them and discuss the matter further."

"The problem is not the virtual. The problem is accommodation. That is what we said."

In a WhatsApp comment, Justice Minister Devesh Maharaj also welcomed the opportunity for further discussions with the Judiciary on this issue and others.

"I note the Judiciary stated they looked forward to meeting with the government which we welcome. "Further, we will be taking steps to ensure an early meeting."

At the post-cabinet briefing at the Red House on May 29, Alexander said, "This is causing a level of inconvenience and a level of stress to both law enforcement and members of the public."

Maharaj, who also addressed the briefing, said a related matter was the construction and refurbishment of courtrooms.

"For the justice system to operate efficiently as you well know, physical infrastructure and resources must be allocated for the proper functioning of the Judiciary."

In a separate WhatsApp comment, former commissioner of police (CoP) Gary Griffith was uncertain whether Alexander had expressed a personal opinion or a government concern.

Should it be the former, Griffith said Alexander is entitled to his opinion and this opinion may alter policy. He added this is one of the reasons why the Justice Ministry was established.

As a former CoP, Griffith found the use of police stations to facilitate virtual court appearances by people who are incarcerated there to be a productive system.

He said it minimised thousands of police man hours being lost by previously having officers attend court with every preliminary hearing.

"The massive transportation cost for felons having to go from (police) stations to court and return has also been eliminated by using this system. It involves embracing technology and change."

Griffith, who was CoP from 2018-2021, recalled former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley objected to police stations being redesigned to be used for issues other than citizens making reports about crime.

"This is when I started putting gender-based violence units in some stations. It is the same with using stations for prisoners to have virtual appearances for virtual hearings."

Griffith said the Judiciary's statement "is rather straightforward and logical."

He repeated that if Alexander has legitimate concerns, it would be wise for his ministry and the Judiciary to have immediate dialogue to have these issues rectified.

Acting CoP Junior Benjamin was unavailable for comment. On May 29, he agreed with Alexander that police stations could not function as law courts.

On May 30, former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi said he took careful note of the Judiciary's statement about virtual appearances from police stations.

He also acknowledged comments made Alexander, Maharaj, Acting CoP Junior Benjamin, TT Police Service Social Welfare Association president ASP Gideon Dickson and other people on this issue as well. Al-Rawi said it was fair for government to seek dialogue with the Judiciary on this issue.

He added he knew Maharaj to be a reasonable man when it came to matters of the law.

But Al-Rawi expressed concern about a possible retrograde step if virtual hearings are discontinued.

He said as someone intimately involved as AG for almost a decade on matters of law reform, "access to justice" was at the heart of many the law reforms which the former PNM administration advocated.

While virtual hearings became a regular feature during the covid19 pandemic, Al-Rawi said plans to use virtual strategies to improve access to justice had been in the legal framework the PNM were afoot before the pandemic.

Using domestic violence cases as an example, Al-Rawi said a virtual hearing from a police station could allow a protection order being issued by a judge at midnight on a Sunday to ensure the protection of a potential victim.

He hoped there would be efforts to find ways to improve access to justice rather than a return to the "gross distortion" of the past which saw high costs in prisoner transport and inordinate delays in the hearing of court matters.

In April 2020, Al-Rawi said the establishment of the virtual courts would save Trinidad and Tobago significant costs otherwise spent on prisoner transport.

“We spend $80 million dollars a year in prisoner transport to and from the courts. Eighty million dollars on average, anyway from $60 to $80 million."

He could not give the cost of establishing the courts but said they were able to make considerable saving because they used containers to build them.

“The containers were purchased for a matter of a couple thousand dollars. And then we entered into the retrofitting of them. I couldn’t give you the cost of that, but it’s a very modest cost in relation to that.”

Al-Rawi said, "Cabinet approved immediately, the IT structures to hire the personnel

etc to do it and we’re busy afoot at creating these 12 courts across the system as I’ve identified. So whatever it is, it is significant, but it is a legacy entity because we are going to use it continuously.”

Al-Rawi, who is now an opposition senator, said the containerised courts were not government’s first choice in terms of establishing a remote court system.

But, he added, it was a step towards a potential real-time court system which could aid in emergency hearing such as domestic violence cases