A Review that was conducted by the Royal Grenada Police Force between April 11-24 by two experienced police officers should not be swept under the carpet by the powers-that-be in this country.

The probe by British police officer Brian Reynolds and former Commissioner of Police of Jamaica, Colonel Trevor Mac Millian was paid for by the British government and focused on the response of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) to last September's passage of Hurricane Ivan.

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell and his New National Party (NNP) government have finally laid the report in Parliament for public consumption despite some earlier reservations and misgivings.

The report confirmed what most Grenadians already knew - the Police Force was ill-equipped for the task ahead and the rank and file members were left in the wilderness due to the failure of the top brass to give directives.

The same can be said of the Mitchell government itself since the general consensus on the island is that Grenada was left without governmental authority of any kind in the first 72 hours after the hurricane passed through the country. The performance of the police was on par with that of the government, which was left in shock and seemed to be paralysed, and probably in a deep coma.

The aspect of the report, which seemed to concern us the most was the clear attempt by those in charge of the police force to try and sweep below the table the allegations that some of their members engaged in serious acts of looting - as was the case with some civilians.

This is a sour issue and for years to come will continue to be a stain on our men and women in uniform. The door is now open for Lawbreakers to feel that society is not just and some are singling them out for specific and special treatment in light of the number of suspected "criminals" in the force.

It matters not who commits the crime - the dock worker, lawyer, businessman, trafficker, police officer, nurse, school teacher, unemployed or self-employed. Crime is always crime and the law should be for one and all.

The two-man commission said: "Of particular harm to the Police was the knowledge that some Police Officers had been identified as being responsible for looting. A total of six Police Officers were accused of such offences (looting).

"Information gained by the consultants would suggest that there were more Police Officers involved than that number. However, with spreading rumours, virtually the whole Force was so tainted by many members of the public - a belief that remains to this day.

"The six Police Officers accused of wrong-doing were all made subject of internal police disciplinary proceedings. The Police Commissioner (Fitzroy Bedeau) informed the consultants that the decision to prefer disciplinary charges rather than criminal charges was the result of advice given by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

"Subsequent interviews revealed this assertion not to be the case. Given the circumstances of public concern in Grenada regarding Police behaviour, the consultants consider this decision taken by the Commissioner as an error. "The public has no right of audience at an internal Police hearing, and usually the results of such hearings are not made available for public "consumption". Providing each case had prima facie evidence, the accused Police Officers should have been taken before the criminal courts.

"This action would have shown that the Police were treating the issues very seriously, the evidence would have been tested publicly, and transparency of Police action would have been evident". It is a known act that GRENADA TODAY had been advocating the removal of Bedeau as Police Commissioner since this newspaper had concluded a long time ago that he had become unfit for the job and what it entails.

There is a lot of goodwill in the country and the force itself for the new man at the helm, Winston James but he should not take things for granted. The Reynolds-Mac Millian report has just highlighted some of the ills within the force and the public perception of our men and women in uniform.

Our law enforcement officers need to do something positive to reassure the ordinary man and woman that it is not business as usual and that the force is there to protect each and every Grenadian. In the past, the force has been tainted by the suspension in some quarters that it helped one of its own to flee the island while in their custody and to avoid being charged with murder in the "Zootie" shooting incident in Woodford area near to Perseverance.

The police are also under the microscope for the manner in which they have handled a drug-related charge involving a well-known political activist of the ruling party in the La Potrie area of St. Andrew's. Unless the police are not given a free, open and independent hand in applying the law as it ought to be then we would only continue "to spin top in mud" not only in handling matters like natural disasters but in all aspects of policing.

It is our sincere hope that the police can do something to regain their image and lost prestige in the eyes of the public due to events in recent years. And some of these unfortunate events are man-made like the manner in which the Political Directorate used the police to try and hound down former Opposition Leader Michael Baptiste in the Japanese whaling issue.

Two police officers were dispatched under Bedeau to Texas to investigate the politically-inspired and motivated charge but not one single police officer of substance to visit Eric Resteiner in a U.S jail to find out about the $US500, 000.00 Switzerland briefcase scandal involving the Prime Minister.