Newly installed Commissioner of Police, James Clarkson has issued instructions for an investigation to be conducted into the circumstances that led to a number of police officers of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) allegedly manhandling a civilian outside the Grenada National Stadium on Carnival Monday, August 11.
Clarkson who replaced Winston James one month ago as the island's top COP, ordered Inspector Kerabe Belfon to carry out the probe into the conduct of some police officers after looking himself at a video recording of the incident.
The incident involved Carenage Resident, Sheldon Monah who is a well known political activist of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).
An official release issued by RGPF said the video recording clearly showed the police officers acting unprofessional in executing their duties.
Speaking to the media last week Wednesday about the incident, Commissioner Clarkson said he saw the tape and "was disturbed about our operation in terms of subduing an individual." According to Clarkson there are certain methods of operation used by the police force to subdue an individual, and what he saw did not go as it should have gone.
"As long as you have certain authority, then you should be held responsible for the use of that authority, and if it is used properly, I have no problem with that. If it is used badly, I do have a problem with that", he said.
"So yes, police (officers) will be held accountable for their actions because there are certain ethics in policing that you must follow, and I am one that really believe in working with the community, and I use all methods I can to bring the community closer to the police," he added.
With regards to the status of the investigation, Clarkson said he gave Insp. Belfon four days to report back to him.
However, he said efforts are being made to get to someone who is helpful to the investigation, but, according to him, that individual has since left the country.
"We are trying to see if we can get a statement from him which is very important to the whole investigation," he told reporters.
Clarkson said that at the time of launching the investigation he was not sure how many officers were involved in the incident at Queen's Park. He, however, confirmed that they were all junior police officers.
The Commissioner said the reason why he opted for an investigation and did not take drastic action against the officers at first instance was due to the fact that no official complaint was made to him.
"The individual himself (Monah) did not make a report to the police so I started an investigation on my own because of what I saw", he said.
"... I didn't have a complaint so I just wanted to get to the truth, to the bottom of what I saw, how did it happen, and why did it happen. So I cannot go and charge the individual. I cannot even really do what I would like to do," he added.
Clarkson indicated that Insp. Belfon was also mandated to obtain a report from Monah as part of the investigation into the alleged manhandling of the civilian.
