Public defender bemoans lack of cooperation from cops

Public Defender Arlene Harrison Henry says that with each extension of states of public emergency (SOEs), her office receives less cooperation from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Harrison Henry, who yesterday made her second appearance in less than a week before the Internal and External Affairs Committee of Parliament, said that there has been a growing sense that the Office of the Public Defender is interfering with, and/or impeding, the work of the police.

"Chairman, we're very clear in our minds that we support all legitimate law enforcement activities," Harrison Henry declared to the committee, which is reviewing the conduct of the SOEs that are now in place in St James; the St Catherine North Police Division; and sections of the Corporate Area that fall within the St Andrew South, Kingston West, and Kingston Central police divisions.

She explained that the situation came to a head on October 5 when members of her office went on a routine visit to the Tamarind Farm Correctional Centre in Spanish Town that houses detainees within the St Catherine North SOE.

Details of the ordeal, contained in a submission from the OPD, stated that on that occasion, the public defender asked an inspector who headed a team of three in the process of interrogating a shackled detainee "if he had advised the detainee of his right to have an attorney-at-law present".

'REGALED WITH A STRING OF OBSCENITIES'

That particular paragraph further explained that in response to the query, the public defender and her team were accused of obstructing the police and the public defender was "regaled with a string of obscenities".

It further noted that the police officer said that the public defender was telling a police officer of "over 31 years of service how to do his @#*% job."

"He said, further, that he was going to log that he was obstructed from doing his work by the public defender and her team and he would detain him for 90 days," it further read.

Harrison Henry revealed, too, that up to last week Friday, a team from the OPD was told that they could not enter the cells where four women were held.

"The team was told that there was nothing under the regulations that permit the public defender and a team to enter and that the only way we could come inside of the cell is if we took a justice of the peace with us. In the interest of our investigations, a JP accompanied us and the ladies were released on Monday after being in custody for 26 days," she explained.

"So, we do have concerns that there is a sense that we're impeding and interfering with police work, and that is so far from the truth. But, it is important enough for us to bring it to the attention of the committee."

The public defender further told the committee that her office has asked the commissioner of police for data in relation to the number of persons who have come into custody in St Catherine North and Kingston Western, but was told that it will be provided in "due course".

"Until that time, I cannot give any detailed analysis of what happens in those jurisdictions," Harrison Henry stated.

syranno.baines@gleanerjm.com