Manning: Need for balance in law enforcement

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning said yesterday  there was a need for balance in law enforcement since it is unacceptable for citizens to be gunned down in cold blood. Manning said the police were under pressure to do their jobs, and there was a need to strike a balance in law enforcement. In addressing the People’s National Movement’s Women’s League 38th Annual Conference at Fyzabad Composite School, he said: “I am not castigating the police. All I am saying is that we understand the pressures under which you operate.” He then commended: “the many hard-working and diligent officers” in the service, adding that had it not been for those, the crime situation would have been far worse.

Manning’s remarks came on the heels of five youths being shot and killed at the hands of police officers last week. Last Monday night Felicity youths Dennis Roopchand, 20; Kevin Singh, 16; Ravi Budhu, 15; and Prem Narad, 15; were killed from multiple gunshot wounds at the hands of policemen after a high-speed chase through Freeport. The youths shot at police while trying to make a getaway after high-jacking a taxi and chopping the driver at Waterloo. The previous week 17-year-old Sherman Monsegue was shot and killed by police who claimed that the teen and his friend opened fire on them at Carenage.

Police Commissioner Trevor Paul has since ordered an investigation into Monsegue’s killing, and promised to make the findings public. Yesterday, Manning also made the call to separate the persons detained at Remand Yard for minor offences and hardened criminals. He said this was necessary so that Remand Yard prison would not turn into an incubator of criminal activity. Referring to last month’s death of Ignatius Owen at Remand Yard, Manning deemed it unacceptable that a man was killed while he was detained for not paying maintenance. He said that the Minister of National Security had been given a special responsibility to deal with the issue.