Today I begin a comparison of our Police Complaints Authority Act and the Police Complaints Authority Act 2006 of Trinidad and Tobago.
I will focus primarily on the appointment and composition of the authority and on the definition of “complaint” in the legislation.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the authority comprises two persons, a director and a deputy who shall be appointed by the president on the joint advice of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition.
If the prime minister and the leader of the opposition cannot agree on the joint advice, the president shall appoint the director and the deputy director after consultation with the prime minister and the leader of the opposition.
A person appointed as director or deputy director must have at least ten years’ experience as an attorney-at-law.
The salary and allowances to be paid to the director and deputy director shall be determined by the president. The salary is a charge on the Consolidated Fund and the salary and allowances and other terms of service shall not be altered to their disadvantage after appointment.
In Barbados, the authority consists of seven people. Four are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the minister; one person by the Governor General on the advice of the Police Force Association; one by the Governor General in his absolute discretion; and the last one shall be the Head of the Civil Service (ex officio).
The members of the authority shall be paid such fees or allowances as are fixed by the Governor General acting on the advice of the minister.
The above provisions reflect different approaches to the concept of a Police Complaints Authority.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the posts of director and deputy director are intended to be full-time positions.
The act, by requiring that the two members of authority be appointed on the joint advice of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, attempts to achieve a bipartisan approach to the establishment of the authority.
Our legislation takes a more traditional approach by permitting the minister to recommend most of the appointments.
If the complaints against the police are substantial in number, it can prove taxing for a part-time committee comprising people who are very often already heavily engaged.
This is my major concern with composition of the authority as established under our legislation.
However, only time will tell whether our authority as constituted can effectively discharge the functions set out in the Police Complaints Authority Act.
Another interesting difference between our legislation and that of Trinidad and Tobago is that there is a definition of complaint in the Trinidad and Tobago act while there is no definition of complaint in ours.
Our act simply says that “complaint” means a complaint brought in accordance with section 11 in respect of the conduct of a police officer.
Section 11 in turn says: “A complaint may be made by a member of the public who is aggrieved or by his authorized agent, or where the aggrieved person has died or is otherwise unable to make a complaint, by any member of the public.”
In Trinidad and Tobago the act reads in part: “complaint” includes an allegation of
(a) police corruption;
(b) serious police misconduct;
(c) the commission of a criminal offence by a police officer or;
(d) the commission of a criminal offence by any other person but involving a police officer, which is submitted to the authority.
The act also contains an extensive definition of “police corruption” and “serious police misconduct”. It is obvious that the focus of the Trinidad legislation is on serious police misconduct.
Our legislation, however, seems to be intended to cover a wider area of misconduct. And even though the commissioner may direct the officer in charge not to investigate nor continue an investigation because the subject matter of the complaint is trivial, and that the complaint is frivolous or vexatious, the broad scope of the act may permit the attention of the authority to be engaged with several complaints that ought to be resolved otherwise.
