EDITORIAL
The recent "Spying" incident in the country has raised the question of whether the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) should not be revamped given the widespread suspicion of political interference in the unit.
There is no doubt that elements within the force are either loyal to the governing New National Party (NNP) of Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell or the main opposition, National Democratic Congress (NDC).
And the fear in some sections of society is that the Special Branch of the police force is a wing of NNP under its current leader, Superintendent Anthony De Gale.
The NDC should be more than happy to have their day in court for a judicial decision on the legality of the excursion undertaken by our Spy Chief.
At the end of the day, the CID officers charged with the investigation for alleged wrong doing in the incident must submit the results of their probe to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to determine if and what charges should be laid against the persons involved in the spying episode.
It's the DPP and not the police who would determine in reviewing the case exactly who broke the law and whether there are grounds to conclude that the Special Branch officer was acting legally in "the line of duty".
Commissioner Winston James has already indicated to this newspaper that he was not a party to the Lucas Street incident involving the NDC offiicals who were holding a legitimate private meeting of their National Exeutive.
If so, then the obvious question is where did Supt. De Gale got his legal clothes to put on in order to send Officer 77 Noel of the Special Branch on this spying mission?
Did he get an order from a high court judge in the country to give legality to the mission on the grounds that the Lucas Street meeting involving the Leader of the Opposition was a serious danger to national security?
If De Gale is at fault, would the DPP ask that he be charged for taking the law into his own hands?
As a mater of fact, this newspaper is very suspicious of RGPF when it comes to lawmen investigating their own for criminal activities.
The case of "Zootie" comes to mind when the DPP ordered that a police officer be charged a few years ago for shooting a man from behind and killing him as he rode away on a motor bike with drugs allegedly in his possession.
The offending policeman was known to be on a police compound supposedly in "safekeeping" when he disappeared into thin air.
The charge of murder is still pending against this police officer who is suspected to be in hiding in the United States. Who helped him to flee Grenada?
It would be interested to hear the evidence given by Commissioner James on the witness stand in a court case involving the Lucas Street spying by the Special Branch.
One of the important question is whether Supt De Gale reports to the COP or directly to the Minister of National Security? Who really controls Supt. De Gale?
Other issues of importance for such a court case relates to the current composition of the Special Branch. Who really are the officers in the unit, how were they selected to service in the department, how were they recruited into the force itself, and their years of experience.
Was 77 Noel recruited into the force and placed into Special Branch after a mere assignment as a member of the Farm Watch grouping?
Our information seems to suggest that there was a mass transfer of the most capable and experienced officers in Special Branch on the entrance of the inexperienced Supt. De Gale by then Commissioner of Police, Fitzroy Bedeau.
It appears that a set of rookies were sent in as replacements such as 77 Noel in order to allow the new Head of Special Branch to take firm control of the unit.
De Gale is known to be lacking in the art of serious policing since he joined the force at the rank of Inspector and never came through the ranks of RGPF which would have provided him with a sounder and better grounding for the job ahead.
The theory is that De Gale might not have been able to command respect from those senior officers in the unit who were much more capable than him in intelligence gathering, investigation and other disciplines that are so critical and necessary for persons earmarked as Special Branch men.
In short, over the years the persons sent to Special Branch are top officers in the force who would have had many years of experience and training at CID, Drug Squad and other such agencies within RGPF.
A police officer like De Gale would not have been considered even for a post as driver of Special Branch much less given the authority to head the unit.
A Police Commissioner with substance would clearly take a dim view of the kind of espionage operation that his Special Branch under Supt De Gale attempted to carry out against the members of the NDC Executive.
He should be sent to Bus Terminal in St. George's as a demotion for this despicable act that has brought shame, as well as deep suspicion and mistrust by the public of the police force.
But let's await the results of the probe ordered by Commissioner James and the directives to be given to the police by DPP Christopher Nelson who is once more placed in a very unfortunate and perhaps uncomfortable position.
