Some citizens of Grenada are being marginalised and mistreated by the police, leading to lack of trust and resentment.
Police must understand that the mistrust of police by some community members is also rooted in several issues such as officers not hesitating to stop wrongdoing by a fellow officer.
Transparency is essential to positive police/community relationships. When a critical incident occurs, the police should try to release as much information about it as possible, as soon as possible, so the individual or community will not feel that information is being purposefully withheld from them.
I believe the police purposefully withhold information from citizens who do not like or favour them.
To embrace a culture of transparency, law enforcement officers should make all department policies available for public review and regularly post on the department’s website information about stops, summonses, arrests, reported crime, and other law enforcement data, aggregated by demographics.
Police officers are obliged to tell the public what is going on in an investigation or report – both as a matter of respect for the job (where the public are our ultimate boss) and also to ensure there is transparency in telling them how safe they are.
Why are the police officers at the Grenville Police Station deliberately withholding information from the public or citizens?
The police station in Grenville has come under scrutiny for not properly investigating cases and accumulating a huge backing of investigations.
Are the police officers violating professional standards of behaviour, failing to follow orders, failing to perform duties properly and exhibiting improper conduct as well as failing to complete case reports?
The RGPF needs to support training and increase personnel. The RGPF needs to improve the relationship with the Grenadian community. I have seen poor management of cases, evidence of all types by the RGPF and “poor to no training”, outdated equipment and poor completion of reports.
I think that the Minister of National Security needs to appropriate more funds to the RGPF.
I am calling on the Commissioner of Police to cease any discriminatory practices by law enforcement and to take steps to ensure all reports of sexual assaults are investigated thoroughly without regard to the victim’s gender, and to train law enforcement to adequately investigate reports of sexual assault in an effective and thorough manner.
The Onlooker