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KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – This country’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Camillo Gonsalves, who was arrested by a cop in New York last month, has said that police excesses also exist here.

Gonsalves made the point last week in response to a comment from the floor at a town hall meeting where he discussed with Vincentians in New York his arrest by a cop there.

The member of the audience — an ex-cop in St. Vincent who said he was arrested in here six times last year “for stupidness” — said bigoted cops exist everywhere and many of them join the constabulary “with their own axes to grind”.

“You are absolutely right. New York and the United States do not have a monopoly on bad police,” Gonsalves said. “There are police everywhere in the world that commit abuses and every country has a responsibility to train their police better.

“And what we are talking about here is the New York City’s responsibility to train its police better in this context,” said Gonsalves, who noted the size of the diplomatic community in New York, where the United Nations headquarters is located.

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Gonsalves, during the meeting, said that New York Police Department (NYPD) cops assigned to work at diplomatic facilities need to be better trained.

He said a senior NYPD cop who was summoned when he was arrested did not know what a U.N. diplomatic identification card looks like or what “Permanent Representative” means.

“When we are talking about the training that NYPD officers need and sensitivity, that doesn’t mean that we are saying we (in St. Vincent and the Grenadines) don’t have a plank in our eyes as well that we have to remove. ‘Cause all countries struggle with police brutality and the hope is that all of us get better and improve.”

Gonsalves, however, said that he thinks Vincentian Commissioner of Police Keith Miller has been doing “a very good job of attempting to train and improve the way that police behave”.

“But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a long way to go and we should neglect that,” he said.

Miller, who has been severely criticised for reinstating in 2010 two cops who were in 2009 convicted of crimes after almost beating to death a 15-year-old boy one year earlier, recently fired two cops for stealing parts from a vehicle parked at police headquarters.

Miller, who in January said he is strictly against police brutality, that month fired a cop who drove without license and insurance a vehicle that struck and killed a lad who was riding his bicycle on Boxing Day.

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17 replies on “Police excesses exist in St. Vincent also – Ambassador Gonsalves”

  1. I believe Millers hands are tied by Donkey Gonsalves as minister in charge of police. The police in SVG have been out of control for a long time. They administer justice by always shooting to kill, they try and take no prisoners. They are gun happy. Beating confessions from the accused, who in many cases are accused only by the police. Three police officers were accused of such crimes when they nearly beat to death a youth in an interview room. Rendering him to a coma for a week. They were charged with much lesser crimes than what they actually committed, an attempt to change the course of justice and get the police officers off. To the surprise of those in power the police officers were actually convicted. Immediately an appeal was launched, again to the surprise of the hierarchy the officers convictions were upheld.

    Now we all know what happened next, the three police officers who are now convicted criminals were reinstated in their original jobs, released on the public to render their own kind of justice, gross violence and forced confessions.

    Now if the Gonsalves boy had been in SVG, and he refused the command of an armed police officer, who refused to give his ID, he would of undoubtedly been shot to death.

    This Marxist government has installed a Marxist led police force, who have no regard at all for the public. They only answer to the ULP Marxist government, and are totally under their control.

    And as for all you stupid ignorant supporters of the ULP, you need to wake up and understand that this only a labor party in name. The old labor party was sold to a band of Marxists who would never of been elected as the ruling party of SVG. This is not the old party that your parents supported, this is the old communist party that your parents and grandparents hated, detested and would never elect.

    This is the Marxist party of scum, that wants to sell us out to ALBA, and have almost succeeded. ALBA have a military school, ‘HOW MANY OF OUR POLICE OFFICERS HAVE TAKEN THE ALBA COURSE, WHICH INCLUDES POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION, AND HOW TO BEAT AND KILL THOSE WHO MAY RISE UP AGAINST THIS
    MARXIST REGIME’

  2. Marcus Soares says:

    Sir I have read with some interest that the ULP led administration revoked the PACE 1984 under which Section 76 and 78 exclusion provisions along with the associated Codes of Practice for the police acted as a restraint on some of these excesses. The situation now in SVG is apparently dire as the balance of power and arguably probative prejudice lies in the remit of the Police.

    Perhaps some sort of law reform ought to be pursued by the ULP to restore rights of the Vincentian citizen at the core of policing.

  3. MARCUS SOARES, your quite right about PACE, and it was Gonsalves who had the idea of revoking PACE. He said the police couldn’t get convictions when working to the PACE rules, he said that because of PACE, lawyers kept finding loopholes with which to get their clients off.

    Whilst most democratic countries were adopting PACE, Gonsalves was destroying it in SVG. That was the real beginning of out of control police. We have ended up a police state with some police dressed in black [the black squad], and some dressed in army paramilitary jungle wear, clothes that are jungle camouflaged army fatigues. Both these squads carry hip holstered guns, and some times automatic multi shot rifles.
    Neither of these police squads carry visual ID, no numbers no names. This allows them to slap and brutalize members of the public, and the public cannot give a positive identification of the officer involved.

    I would like to know which officers of which squad were sent to the ALBA military school, for military training and political indoctrination?

    MARCUS, we are in the grasp of a MARXIST regime, crime is getting worse by the day.

  4. Amazona Guildingii says:

    @ Peter, there is nothing wrong with disagreeing with Gonsalves politics but you constantly refer to him as a donkey and his son as a mule. This is really in poor taste and only shows that you are a bitter person. If you wish for anyone to take any of your comments seriously then you should refrain from calling these people these names. . But I must tell you that it really is in poor taste that you do so so often and i am surprised that Kenton encourages such….just saying

  5. I have personally come to the conclusion that Ambassador Gonsalves was part of a well devised ALBA plan to highlight where the Israeli mission to the UN were located and to embarrass the Israelis. Why, because we are trying to show the Middle East scum that we are anti Israeli and deserve their cash handouts.

  6. If it was a vincy police operation,they would have used another ambassador to call him back to the building,the gonsalves boy would have ran into police inside the building,realized it was an ambush too late and get shot

  7. The problem with ULP and those who make excuses for all the “FART” it does and continue to do, is the lack of integrity and morality to speak on almost anything. The legacy of Ralph and this ULP is so stewed with sin, anyone can easily and convincingly oppose and counter what they say by simply pointing to the contradiction between what ULP says and what it does.

    So it is difficult for ULP to provide any moral leadership to this country. You see a moral leader must have moral character evident by moral actions. Ralph and the ULP do not have moral character nor have they demonstrated the capacity for moral actions. This is why ULP is always on the defensive. That is why ULP people are alway responding to any decent by cursing or trying to dehumanized anything not ULP. That is why people who support ULP are labelled; Ralph Haters; unpatriotic, dunce, stupid, etc etc. ULP’s response to meaningful issues is now reduced to: croaking, barking, screeling, howling, roaring and making all sorts of incomprehensible sounds characteristic of dumb animals. There is no sensible discourse. All we have from ULP is cuss! cuss! cuss! excuses and downright lies.

    The ULP has “pissed” on everything that was previously good and moral in this country. Pick a topic…any topic. I will be able to make sound arguments, using things that ULP has done to support, in every instant, the violation of what was previously considered good, moral and right : Let us pull a few out of the bag:
    – Victimization and political profiling of opposition supporters
    – Rape charges and sexual assault in public office
    – Laundering(not clothes)
    – Theifing in public office
    – Police brutality
    – Economic mis-management
    – Patriotism
    – Association with known criminals
    – Nepotism
    – Racism and political bigotry
    – Mis-behaviour in public office
    – Lying to the public
    – Arrogance
    – Disrespect for Opposition parlimentarian
    – Oppression of Opposition Contituencies
    – Political and ideological elitism
    – Public Accountability

    Pick any!

    People, I challenge anyone in the ULP to a debate on any of the above and I will bring evidence to proove what I am saying.

    I bet they gwine cuss me bad now. Wait for the response on this. You will see what I mean.

    1. WEHHA, it seems like you do not understand the TOPIC. I am SUGGESTING that you stay focused on what is before your EYES instead of what you DESIRE to be before your eyes.

  8. Correction:” …. That is why people who support ULP are labelled…” This should read…” That is why people who do not support ULP are labelled”..

  9. KEVIN THOMAS, you are quite right, but that is not a reason that we should tolerate such behavior in SVG.

    In any civilized country, when those three officer were convicted they would of been fired from the job without compensation and all pensions and gratuities cancelled.

    Then all persons convicted in the past on evidence presented by these officers, jointly or singularly, would be reviewed and in most all cases those convicted set free. Set free because there is a more than an even chance that these officers have used false evidence and beaten confessions from those previously convicted. All those previous convictions would be and should be, considered unsafe.

    Under the watch of Gonsalves and with the cancellation of PACE, this is the result, just like the government there is now scum in the police. With Police out of control we have been reduced to a fifth world country.

    We are led and governed by Marxist scum, resulting in being policed by criminals, who beat up people as part of the policing policy.

    Can you imagine how much blind support will now be demanded and expected from these officers, from the Red Dwarf Marxist regime. How this enhances corruption, no one unless approved by some government official will ever be able to be prosecuted again by these officers.

    OWN THE PARTY, OWN THE JOBS, OWN THE POLICE. What has this country come to under the control of Gonsalves?

    By the way can anyone confirm if any or all the officers came from the constituency of Gonsalves?

    I just hope that the appropriate US Department registers this in the Country Report for SVG. And all Human Rights Agencies post such reports also.

  10. PETER, CLEARLY you cannot be a VINCENTIAN, if this is now that you KNOW this. If you’re, U R TRULY an UNINFORMED one, but that is not SURPRISING.

    That said; so what that he is not a BORN Vincentian?

  11. How can an American be our UN ambassador, shouldnt that job of gone to a Vincentian, someone who was born here without the silver spoon of colonialism.

  12. I completely missed this debate. I am curious about the reference to PACE. I now realize why the police behave in such manner. I didn’t realize these police units have no identification tags. That’s why they can murder nationals and don’t answer to anyone – well except Ralph. Why don’t law abiding folks get together and correct this brutal and dictatorial behaviour.
    I wonder if this removal of the PACE rule is responsible for the increase in crime in SVG. I believe there should be a review of this PACE rule. By the way where was the opposition when this was done. This topic is also ripe as a candidate for discussion during the next election.
    I find the NDP has a ton of topics to bring forward to show why the ULP should not be given another chance to ruin SVG. I hope the take note and stop trying to dehumanize Ralph and talk of Arnhim as Mr. Integrity. NDP should stick to fact and incident that the common folks can relate to and understand. Nothing should be above their heads.
    Folks keep this PACE issue alive and we may see some changes to the mongoose gang mentality in SVG.

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