UNC wants tribunal on police killings

LA BREA MP, Hedwige Bereaux, yesterday opposed the private members motion of UNC MP for Siparia, Kamla Persad-Bissesar, for a special tribunal to be set up to investigate the series of controversial shootings of civilians by police officers that occurred in 2004 and 2005. Debate resumed on the motion yesterday in the House of Representatives. Bereaux said such a tribunal would infringe on the constitutional human rights of individual police officers. By being subject to this tribunal they would not be under the same equality before the law as other citizens who are subject only to court. “The Member for Siparia is asking for a special tribunal to judge a category of person in public.”

Bereaux also said Persad-Bissessar’s motion seemed to suggest that she thought that the law courts and coroners’ inquests were not fair and impartial. He accused the Opposition of speaking out of both sides of their mouth while moving this motion and at the same time calling on the police to tackle crime. He said, “For us to fight crime we can’t put police in fear of coming before this special tribunal that’s been set up to deal with them.” Bereaux said such a tribunal would offend the Constitution Section 77 and impinge and demean the status of the law courts. 

If the Opposition was so concerned about crime, he said, they should support the Police Reform Bills which the Government is due to return to Parliament. In response, Princes Town MP, Subhas Panday, hit the Government over its handling of crime. He read a list of about 24 names of people whom he claimed were the victims of  extra-judicial killings by the police. He noted the Government’s failure to give life to laws which had been passed by Parliament such as the Equal Opportunities Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) and Criminal Injuries Compensation Act.