COMMISSIONER SENT ON VACATION LEAVE

Reports circulating in the media indicate that Vernon Francois the Commissioner of the Royal St Lucia Police Force has been asked to proceed on vacation leave. Reliable sources say the Commissioner of Police is entitled to 400 days of leave.

The request for the COP to go on leave comes in the midst of concerns and anxieties expressed by the sections of the St. Lucian public in respect of a decision by the United States to debar officers of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force “from participating in several training programmes arranged or financed by the US”.

According to the Government sources, Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony will this week, clarify outstanding and related issues in that regard including the reasons for the actions of the United States against officers of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force.

It is believed that the US action is related to the US State Department’s human rights report on St Lucia that singled out 12 police killings during 2011, some allegedly perpetrated a special task force within the police department.

Among other things, the State Department report also observed that (1) there was “only limited progress by the director of public prosecutions (DPP) in reviewing and other investigations of unlawful killings dating back to 2006”; and (2) that “the government did not implement the existing anti-corruption law effectively, and officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity”.