Deosaran: Police Bills will return

INDEPENDENT Senator, Prof Ramesh Deosaran, yesterday said it was inevitable that the Police Reform Bills or some other manifestation of  them would return to the Parliament. Commenting on the provisions for National Security in the 2004/2005 Budget, Deosaran (who also heads UWI’s Centre for Criminolgy) said the population must see that it is getting “value for money” where anti-crime efforts are concerned, because there was only so much that a finance minister could do. He said this was particularly important in the area of management of the country’s law enforcement agencies and predicted that some manifestation of the Police Reform Bills would either be debated by Parliament or a parliamentary joint select committee at a future date. Deosaran said neither the Government nor the Opposition should engage in cheap shots on anti-crime legislation, but instead engage in discussion based on reason and devoid of emotion.