Freed police sergeant complained of sexual harassment, attorney says

A police sergeant, who has been freed of drug-related charges, previously filed multiple complaints internally about sexual harassment by high-ranking police officers and victimisation, her attorney has disclosed.

Marcus Goffe, the lawyer representing Sergeant Tamica Taylor, said he believes the complaints fuelled “this escalation of the case”, culminating with the criminal charges filed against his client and her fiancé, Rayon Harris.

Law enforcement first arrested Harris on February 18, 2021, and charged him with possession of, dealing in, and cultivating ganja following a search of his house and a small farm he operated.

Taylor, who was assigned to the Kingston Central Police Division at the time, was arrested a year later and charged with possession of and dealing in ganja.

She was also suspended from the police force without pay, Goffe said.

Both were freed of all charges on Monday when a judge at the St Thomas Parish Court upheld legal arguments by Goffe that there was no case for his clients to answer.

The attorney said the presiding judge, in dismissing the charges, said the evidence presented by prosecutors was tenuous.

Goffe told The Gleaner yesterday that in addition to the complaints of sexual harassment, Taylor had applied for promotion to the rank of superintendent and “was in a very advanced position” to be promoted.

However, he charged that “gatekeepers” within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) were trying to “suppress” Taylor’s complaints about sexual harassment by male senior officers, leading to an “escalation” in the case.

“Somebody within the JCF felt clearly that Detective Sergeant Taylor and her fiancé deserve to be taught a lesson, and so I think there was an abuse of power in the JCF where she’s concerned,” he argued.

The attorney said none of the complaints filed by Taylor have been ventilated by the JCF’s internal mechanisms.

“As I understand it, based on the fact that she was charged and suspended, those complaints have been, I believe, put on hold. There has been no sort of determination of those [complaints] as far as I am aware,” he said.

Goffe said Taylor and Harris are happy with the outcome of their criminal trial “because this is a case that should not have been brought in the first place”.

“I am pleased that her name has been cleared and vindicated [so] that she can now, if she wants to, go back to her rightful role of securing the nation,” he said, making reference to the police sergeant.

Taylor and Harris were previously represented by late attorney Valerie Neita-Robertson.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com