Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite will be intervening in the reported rift between Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin and his deputy, Bertie Hinds.
And he will be doing so shortly after Dottin returns from holiday on Wednesday.
Brathwaite confirmed this to the DAILY NATION saying that “the issue” would be one of the many that would get his attention although he did not “receive any such correspondence” about a rift between the two individuals.
“Yes,” was his retort when asked if he was concerned about the report.
“When the commissioner comes back from holiday . . . we are supposed to get together again to discuss the force generally and any issues they have.
“I am told they have been meetings with them both to address the matter. I am not sure if it has gotten any worse or any better. But based on what I heard I think it is worth investigating and we would look into it,” promised the Attorney General, after addressing the National Task Force on Crime Prevention event at the Grand Barbados Hotel.
The development centres around alledged reports that Hinds and Dottin are at loggerheads and recommendations have been made to second them to other posts in the Government service.
Earlier during an intervention at the podium the Attorney General defended the Royal Barbados Police Force against severe criticism from some of those in the audience.
“I do not believe that I’ve heard or seen any evidence over the last couple of months . . . that would suggest that there has been a depreciation in the quality of policing and the responsiveness to the events; or that we were going in the direction where Barbadians seem more apt to call sources other than the police force,” said Brathwaite.
Dedication
The minister challenged the organisers of similar fora to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the police.
He stressed that “if we ourselves don’t send a correct signal in terms of our respect for the hard work and dedication of our police officers, (then) the guys in the streets won’t do so”.
The minister’s comments also came against the background of a number of negative “interventions” about the police from the audience at a Human Rights lecture at the Frank Collymore Hall recently which spoke of police beatings.
“I sat there and to say the least was very annoyed . . . . No one stood up, maybe I should have done, (but) no one stood up and recognise that the police are people too. They have the right to come to work and go home safely.
“We need to support them, if we don’t . . . the hotbed areas which I daresay the police are working to address would in fact escalate. But we ourselves have to send the right signal, and I say to you tonight that my signal is that I have confidence in our police force,” said Brathwaite.
The Attorney General said the force was not perfect, “but in the main we have police we can work with and solve the problems”.
