The president of the Barbados Bar Association thinks the selection process for a Justice of the Peace (JP) “is a joke”.
Andrew Pilgrim told the DAILY?NATION that some JPs were just not up to scratch.
“The JP stand between the ordinary citizen and his right to call his home his castle. JPs are not doing their duty in terms of determining if the police have good grounds for having the right to go into your home and they don’t have that right, they shouldn’t come in.
“As the system stands right now, it seems to me the JPs are not qualified or trained sufficiently to understand that they have the right to say to the police we are not going to issue this warrant,” he said.
Pilgrim, an attorney since 1992, said that he knew of no instance where a JP had opted not to issue a warrant to the police.
Pilgrim said he was concerned that the police’s account of what happened in the interrogation process and the version of the accused, was completely different almost every time.
Pilgrim reiterated the need for Government to clarify the status of the Chief Justice posting. He was referring to the March 18 amendment in parliament of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act which facilitated the appointment of United States-based Barbadian jurist Marston Gibson for the top judicial post.
Pilgrim added that Barbadians need to be aware of their rights and called on them to read more about the Magistrates, JPs and Police Acts.
He felt the time had long come for the laws of Barbados to be available to all and sundry, online.
