Police Officers Suing Cricket World Cup For Their Own Faults
To the Police Association: Good luck in court. You’ll need it.
Officers of the Royal Barbados Police Force are suing Cricket World Cup over the fact that RBPF officers allowed themselves to be searched by unemployed housewives acting as part-time security guards at the March 5th warm-up match.
Barbados Free Press has already provided our opinion that this was the fault of the involved police officers and their on-site and senior leadership. (See our stories here, here and here)
We had more of the same sort of street level and senior police management incompetence just a few days ago when police abandoned a female victim of domestic violence for four days – because a security guard at an upscale gated community refused to let them in to attend to the victim’s call for help. (See BFP’s story here)
It is unforgivable that a female victim should be denied police assistance for FOUR DAYS because both the patrol officers and senior management lacked knowledge and confidence in their powers and authority.
Think about the idiocy by all the police involved – right from the first responding officers, to their supervisors and right up the chain to the Commissioner.
And now the police want to sue Cricket World Cup when the reality is that senior police management failed to provide adequate training and leadership to patrol officers – making the officers incompetent and unable to handle a basic question of chain of command. (Look at the smile on the officer allowing himself to be searched. Does he look like he has a case in court? He didn’t even have enough knowledge at the time to know he was being an idiot. I rest my case!)
In our opinion, the Police Association is suing the wrong entity. They should be suing Commissioner Dottin and senior police management for failing to provide adequate legal training and effective management & supervision. They should also be suing police management and their political masters for failing to adequately define the chain of command during joint operations with foreign government and private security forces.
This is obviously a systemic problem throughout the Royal Barbados Police Force. If the case ever makes it to court, it could be the best thing that ever happened to policing in Barbados – because the defense lawyers are going to rip police senior management to shreds.
Finally! Police Association Rebels Against Unclear & Improper Chain Of Command
Once bitten, twice shy. It is about time that the Police Association woke up from it’s sleep. Police officers are threatening to withdraw services for Cricket World Cup and we don’t blame them in the least.
Cricket World Cup wants the individual officers to sign an unclear contract with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket World Cup. At issue is a clause which absolves the ICC and CWC of responsibility for any injury or loss to a police officer, but the bigger issues are … Who Is In Charge? What Is The Chain Of Command? Who Are The Officers Really Working For? Why Aren’t They Covered For Injuries As They Are Normally? Who Is Libel For What?
Why Do The Officers Have To Sign Individual Contracts In The First Place?
This is absurd. By allowing the officers to sign individual contracts, the senior management of the Royal Barbados Police Force is abandoning it’s officers to fight their own legal battles with CWC and IOC if something goes wrong. Cricket World Cup should have contracted with the Royal Barbados Police Force so the officers would be fully covered and there would be no questions about chain of command, responsibilities and liabilities.
Senior management of the Royal Barbados Police Force have shown that they are amateurs working at a senior level. Throughout the debacles with Cricket World Cup organisers, they haven’t cared enough about the welfare of their officers to take charge. This latest contract stupidity is just the latest in a long line of shameful incidents.
God Bless the street-level officers, because they have no effective leadership. Commissioner Dottin and other senior police management only cower in fright of their political masters.
Cop’s Move
The Nation News, April 8, 2007
THE POLICE are taking Cricket World Cup (CWC) officials to court over the controversial searching of officers at the March 5 warm-up match at the 3Ws Oval.
That decision was taken yesterday during an emergency meeting of the Police Association at Police Band headquarters at District “A” Police Station.
The action by private security guards at the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus ground led to widespread public condemnation.
“Some officers have informed us they feel deeply hurt by what occurred; but more importantly, they feel there are several issues arising out of the incident which need to be addressed, including issues regarding the role, powers and functions of the police as well as the sovereignty not only of the Police Force but of the nation as a whole,” the association’s attorney Amiri Dear, of Thompson and Associates, told the SUNDAY SUN after the extraordinary meeting.
“And as such we will be taking the appropriate steps to have these issues fully ventiliated,” she said.
In another development, police officers were also threatening to withdraw their services for Wednesday’s first official CWC match at Kensington Oval over a major contractual dispute.
The move follows a directive from the association to its members not to sign an accreditation contract from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and CWC.
… continue reading this article at The Nation News (link here)
… and a jigger of rum to The Barbados Underground for alerting us to this story.
31 Comments
April 8, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Gosh, I doubt the cricket could even continue,
without their being ‘on the spot’.
How will life/sport continue, without them and their uniforms?
April 8, 2007 at 2:04 pm
God Bless the street-level officers, because they have no effective leadership. Commissioner Dottin and other senior police management only cower in fright of their political masters.
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Wait if Former C.O.P Orville Durant’s hands where tied, do you think that current C.O.P hands are any different?
…….The landed gentry and other Business persons in Barbados have demonstrated the if labourers in Bim don’t want to work for pittance, they can source such willing workers from elsewhere, the Police withholding their service, may not amount to anything with the number of regional and extra regional security people comming in. The message is clear do as we tell you or we will find others who will.
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Does anyone remember then Commisioner of Police Orville Durant, famous comments “My hands are tied?”
Can anyone recall the events/situations, that precipitated this comment?
Was the then COP being malicious by insinuating by way of that comment that the Police really were not free to carry out their constitutional duties?
Was IT a mere perception, ableit one informed by statements, comments and actions and threats of action from certain members of the political class?
Has things change? What role if any does the current Prime Minister’s also famous comments “They are not special” referring to the police, has on solidifying in the minds of the police that this perception is still alive?
Finally: Darwin Dottin does not come over to me as a confident person, he seems very timid and uncertain, could this public image of the top cop have led to the public challenging the police like they never had before?
April 8, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Don’t see a problem with having another dept search the police. Good for checks and balances.
Why the fuss? Are the police deemed above the law?
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Comment By BFP Cliverton
Free the Press!!!!…
Your comments continually show that you must be living on another planet. First, you say that “freedom of the press” can only be maintained if the government retains control of all broadcasting on the island.
Now you say the the police should be searched by unemployed housewives acting as part time security guards – so they are “not above the law”
What “law” are you talking about that gives private security guards (some even from other countries) authority over sworn police officers with authority to uphold the laws of this sovereign nation?
If you know of such a law, please quote the statue and number.
“Thanks.”
April 8, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Free the press is obiviously “person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning” both his positions clearly define this if he believe that police should be searched by security guards.
To the Police Association best of luck and I hope that the political associations of the top brass is exposed so explaining things that have not been exposed before. No Integirty, Accountability or Transparency in institutions in Barbados.
April 8, 2007 at 2:45 pm
…..but why wunnuh suh vex with Free the press, after all he/she/it said they don’t SEE a problem, if his/her/it’s observation was made in darkness or as a result of unawareness, why the comments??
April 8, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Because the law is the written law, and the police are the police.
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Comment by BFP Cliverton
AGAIN WE ASK – what written law are you talking about that empowers private security guards to search sworn police officers?
You are one thick sob.
BFP Clive
April 8, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Free the press!!!!
April 8th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Because the law is the written law, and the police are the police.
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Folks, just take a look at this persons’ contribution and you may just find a consistent attempt to derail conversations. Not worth the responses.
April 8, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Yes, I do not know that much about this subject. So…sorry.
Also, perhaps I have abused a couple of people this morning, and should stop that…. Sorry to those.
Going on sabbatical.
Free the press!!!! out.
April 8, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Your best comment of the day Free the press
April 8, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Who writes this rubbish?
April 8, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Clearly a RETARD.
April 8, 2007 at 4:29 pm
I really believe that Police Officers are very well trained in Barbados , and therefore are aware of their responsibilites and duties.
I also believe that the commissiner is a very highly trained and experience officer.
It is agianst this background that i may conclude that some one or ones wanted to embarrass the Commissioner or/and the BRPF
In fact, were I the commissioner I would investigate if disciplinary action is required here.
There should be no circumstances under which a police officer should degrade his uniform like that.
April 8, 2007 at 4:53 pm
try their political masters and judicial flunkies who are often trying to interfere with the rule of law on a regular basis. This is a society which relies on favours and to hell with the average citizen.
April 8, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Post 9/11 there was a similar incident of a uniformed on-duty police officer who was merely stopped by a security guard at Toronto airport. The security guard had been ordered by her superiors to check ID for all persons entering her checkpoint. The security guard was immediately placed under arrest and charged with obstruction of a police officer.
In Barbados there should be no private contract with individual officers unless they are being employed directly by a private firm (presumably with their commanders’ approval, as off-duty officers). Otherwise they are just doing their regular job.
The police force has the authority to cancel or close down any public event that is not properly policed (and therefore a danger to the public) according to their own determination. Legal action should not be required. It is a bit strange that the Commissioner of Police would agree to any unusual terms and conditions in the first place.
April 8, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Is anyone suggesting that Barbadian police officers shouldn’t be searched at all?
Don’t tell me it’s a sovereignty issue, I already understand that, but if Barbados agreed to have non-nationals perform security services, who should screen the screeners, and the police?
Last time I passed through Miami, I witnessed U.S. Transportation Safety officers subjecting themselves to search.
Security personnel for Olympic events are also screened.
Team security details, traveling as a group, are known to one another, hence the screening process is inherent.
April 8, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Hi Bajan George
Your point is well taken and underscores the fact that when our officers were searched, no one was in charge. There were NO RULES about chain of command, authorities etc.
Given the venue and the part-time housewives “in charge” of the security checkpoint, one should have asked “Who has authority over whom?”
Can the non-citizen, part-time private security guard or security volunteer arrest an armed, sworn, on-duty Police officer in uniform who is working at the same venue?
Who is in charge when the worst happens? The volunteer security guards or the Royal Barbados Police Force?
The officers were together in a group along with a senior officer.
There was no protocol. There were no rules. There was no plan. Everybody made it up as they went along.
Amateurs – every one of them, right from the Commissioner of Police on down.
Not to mention the despicable incident at the gated community where numerous police officers and their management abandoned a female victim of domestic violence for 4 days.
My friends at Barbados Free Press think I’m being too hard on the police. I think that we have settled for a second-rate, over-politicized police force for far too long.
We have developed a culture of zero accountability on Barbados. We can say something is wrong, but we never hold an individual accountable for their individual failures.
In this case, Commissioner Dottin has been in charge of the RBPF for long enough that he must take personal responsibility for the failure to train personnel in even the most basic issues of law and duty.
They are all afraid of their own shadows and political masters and that comes right from the top.
Commissioner Dottin must be replaced with someone who has leadership qualities and the courage to stand up for the rule of law when pressured by corrupt politicians.
Robert
(and I know what I am talking about when it comes to leadership – having yelled “Sir! Yes Sir!” in another life for “a number of years”.)
April 8, 2007 at 6:40 pm
johnw
If the situation in Barbados is as you have stated that, ” some one or ones wanted to embarrass the Commissioner or/and the Barbados Royal Police Force ”
We are in deep trouble.
At the expense of restating what I have said before, but I must make the point in light of recent events.
There seems to be a lack of clear leadership in the Barbados Police Force and this manifest itself in the police not knowing basic Law, being not properly trained and directed , and as a result fearful of powerful persons behind the scenes.
With regard to the recent high profile events such as Millennium Heights and The World Cup, are meetings not held to discuss important issues of the day at senior level?
Are decisions not taken backed by legal opinion as how to proceed?
Is the advice given, and the decisions about future action not relayed to officers, so that every policeman in the land is informed of the correct procedure to adopt, when the situation arises.
Is the station sargeant not briefed in how to respond to events and which senior officer to contact immediately in order to lend weight to his decision.
From the evidence before us it “appears” that people are running the affairs of this fair land without any responsibility or accountability to the Barbados population.
Things are worse, than I ever imagined they could be.
April 8, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Well put Yardbroom could not have said it better we are nation without accountability.. as you put it before a Banana Republic without bananas.
April 8, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Any institution is as good as its head, clearly this present commissioner needs to resign and let someone who knows what they are doing take over. The RBPF may shortly be known as a Rowdy Bunch of Proper Fools if something is not done, and very soon. People at all levels of society, criminals and all will be fast losing respect for these clowns.
April 8, 2007 at 11:01 pm
My point is that the security system was working when the Barbadian police team was screened.
I agree there was no identifiable chain of command at the scene, let alone anywhere else.
However, in the absence of command presence, the default went to the lowest denominator, just as it does in the military, and just as it does in an IFR flight plan when enroute communications ability is lost: Proceed on course until told otherwise, or until you find safe haven, or to the next fix and hold, then follow procedure to correct the situation.
In this case, in the absence of a command structure, the housewives did just fine.
April 8, 2007 at 11:33 pm
While the RBPF must take the flak on this issue the following must be asked :
1. Who are the owners of this security firm that for 4 DAYS they can DEFY the RBPF…?
2. Why did it take an EQUAL length of time for the COVERNMENT and AG to comment on this ISSUE….?
3. Where is Royalrumble….he CLAIMS to follow the BLP call ” A Better Life for All “….?
Obviously, this does NOT include the members of the RBPF…according to his MASTER….Owen….members of the RBPF…is NOT…SPECIAL….!
April 9, 2007 at 12:08 am
Above they call me retard but cannot refute?
Those who resort to common insults often have very little else to say.
What I said about the press, the TV license, the corruption in Barbados….it’s true.
A few small people who read this blog know that.
It is we, the so-called retards, and proletariats of this good island, who will stop you, the grasping, greedy and wicked of Barbados.
You control nothing.
What the lord gave you he will take it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
God bless and protect this small island from the dangers and troubles we will see in the coming years.
April 9, 2007 at 1:30 am
We all agree, we have never had an international event of this size to police before, so give it a break, it is a learning experience like anything else that is new and different. In the end we will have learned a lot, and it is better to err on the side of caution (having the police checked like everyone else) than to have someone masquarade in a perfectly copied uniform and bypass the security to do some real damage that will impact on the island and the region for years to come. Let me draw a parallel.–in today’s Advocate newspaper, the PRO of the RBPF on page 12 in an article that took up half a page is reminding us about not wearing camouflage apparel or any apparel that can be conscrued to be such, and reminds us of the penalties (so no one should be able to imitate a soldier) if this is done. Interesting enough, I do not see or hear any law or regulation to prevent anyone from donning the garb of a supposidly Muslim woman with only the little eye slit in an otherwise completely covered body and doing DIXIE
April 9, 2007 at 1:40 am
The police throughout the world have been used by politicians to do all types of dirty work. Mugabe uses his forces to oppress opposition, Thatcher used them to destroy the Mining unions and in Barbados our politicians have confused our officers with a myriad of changes. The officers were told to take the vendors off the streets, then they were told to leave them alone, then they were told to move the street vendors again. The vendors are now laughing at the police. I have witnessed a well known local celebrity, hit a small boy with his motorbike at a school fair, on a grassy area where he had no reason or right to ride the powerful motor bike. The child’s father was an off duty police man who called the police in a proper manner to report the accident. On arrival at the scene the two officers took statements from the celebrity and witnesses.
The father of the boy was told by the celebrity, within ear shot of the officers, that he should know that he can’t be touched. The celebrity has a powerful relative in legal circles and the parent knew that he could get no justice. He left the police force sometime after this.
People, including police officers (and security guards), have lost and are losing respect for the police and by extension the law. Many have lost any belief in justice and especially the justice system. The MH incident only highlights the different justice that applies to wealth or social status. The incident at UWI with the search of officers is perhaps reflective of our collective sense of awe and respect for international conventions as against local or regional events. If the show at Cave Hill was a reggae festival any attempts to stop and search police would probably have been met with a full scale raid!
Peace
April 9, 2007 at 11:51 am
“It is unforgivable that a female victim should be denied police assistance for FOUR DAYS because both the patrol officers and senior management lacked knowledge and confidence in their powers and authority.”
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Can the female victim sue the RBPF? Or should this go through the Police Complaints Committee? Or the Ombudsman?
April 9, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Perhaps what we need is a whole raft of upper-echelon New Zealand/Denmark/Finland thoroughly-professional White Boy Cops to come in and replace most of the upper levels of the Barbados Police Force.
White Boys with NO local family, no local connections, no corruption….no local nunu passing, nuthin so!
nuhbody child-father involved, none of that!
NEVER HAPPEN! We prefer to have “brothers” in the Force, even if it goes entirely down the tubes!
Our proud sense of Black Nationalism could never allow that!
We are good at solving our problems (if we can ever identify them as problems,in the first place!)..aren’t we?
R.O.G.L.
April 9, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Maat
April 9th, 2007 at 1:40 am
The father of the boy was told by the celebrity, within ear shot of the officers, that he should know that he can’t be touched. The celebrity has a powerful relative in legal circles and the parent knew that he could get no justice. He left the police force sometime after this.
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These stories always amazes me. Well they don’t; I have to, first believe them, then to be amaze. I would have beg the Lord for 10 minutes while i ignore law and order, and beat the living day light out of this idiot. But that is me.
April 9, 2007 at 7:52 pm
According to taday’s Jamaican Gleaner the offending clause reads as follows: “I understand that my entry to the ICC/CWC 2007 venues is at my own risk, and that neither the tournament organisers nor Rushmans (accreditation body) shall be liable for any personal injury or accident or loss, theft or damage to property.”
I support the people in taking this principled decision. The question is what will Hartley do when Owen calls him and ask him to cool it and then promise him improved terms and conditions of employment for the police force?
April 10, 2007 at 12:23 am
Adrians last post;
I would have beg the Lord for 10 minutes while i ignore law and order, and beat the living day light out of this idiot. But that is me.
I think that your response is unfortunately natural and although not with you personally, but as circumstances unfold in life for many of us, these are the decisions we take. It is just an illustration of how a lack of public justice causes social problems.
Peace
April 12, 2007 at 1:32 pm
BFP
I was told that the commanding officer on site At the CWC search fiasco called Police Head Quarters and received instructions from a Very Senior Policeman in charge of police presence at CWC(there arent many senior positions above Superintendant and Inspector) to allow the searches to be done.
this individual obviously did not expect the press to take photos and the barbadian public to respond in such a vitriolic manner
April 22, 2007 at 10:40 am
Below is Mr Dottin’s response to the Press now that Is what I call a cop out pun intended. Pass the buck, blame the supervisor on duty easiest thing to do.
‘Law’ enough to back police
Published on: 4/22/07.
by ROY R. MORRIS
POLICE IN BARBADOS have more than enough “law” on their side to deal immediately and forcefully with any breaches of law, or calls for assistance from anyone in any gated community.
Having reviewed a recent incident at Millennium Heights, St Thomas, involving police and guards at this gated community, which has spawned a major national debate on the subject, Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin said every member of the force should now be in no doubt about how to proceed.
In an extensive interview with the SUNDAY SUN, following meetings of the high command on the force, and the overwhelming belief of those officers that the prudent thing to do would be to issue a full public statement, Dottin first gave a run-down on what investigations had so far revealed.
On March 29 a report for assistance was received at 11:20 a.m. at the Holetown Police Station.
The assistance report was forwarded to District “D” Station, under whose jurisdiction Millennium Heights falls.
On March 30 two patrol officers from the 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. shift were dispatched to Millennium Heights, and were not admitted.
On March 31, another patrol team was sent out and the officers were told by the guard there was no response from the residence.
On April 1, the shift supervising officer, recognising that the matter was still outstanding, “called and engaged the head of the security firm”, pointing out that officers had gone to the site and had not been admitted. He made it clear that the police had a right to enter to deal with the matter, to which the head agreed.
“I want to make the point that as a force, we dropped the ball . . . . Normally, when a patrol comes back from duty they would be debriefed by the supervisor. Certainly on something like that a supervisor should have taken action: either he would have gone himself and resolved the matter, or he would have called up to a senior officer for instruction.
“Even if he was unsure or he needed guidance they should have called up the chain – because we have a very long chain . . . . But that was not done and I regret that, because if it had been done they would have been given very clean directions on what to do.”
Common law
In addition to this failure, Dottin said he had also asked for a full explanation on why the call was received on the morning of the Thursday, but police were only dispatched on the afternoon of the Friday.
He then added: “It is settled law that police can enter any premises, pursuant to a warrant – to arrest or search . . . . Also, according to common law, as opposed to statute law, they can enter to deal with breaches of the peace, or anticipated breaches of the peace. That is to say, that if you fear there is going to be a breach of the peace in a community, in a house or anywhere, the police can go in to deal with it.
“Take for example the Domestic Violence Act, which states in Section 14: ‘A member of the police force may, without warrant enter any premises for the purpose of giving assistance to any one present thereon
(a) if he has reasonable grounds to suspect that a protection order is being violated, or
(b) if upon the invitation of a person resident at the premises he has reasonable grounds to suspect that a person therein has suffered, or is in imminent danger of suffering physical injury at the hands of some other person therein’.
The commissioner then said: “It is interesting the form this debate has taken. I have done some research and I can state that this is a matter of concern to law enforcement . . . even in the United States.
“And let me add here, I have a friend in the United States who lives in a gated community and I go there from time to time and I see the way the police enter. They have the capacity to trigger the electronic access and they drive in unhindered.
“But all over the United States police forces are complaining about the fact that sometimes they have to wait for someone to trigger an alarm for them to get in.
“This does not work in the interest of those persons who live in the gated community itself or in the public interest. And those communities are taking steps to deal with it,” he said.
Responding to criticism of an earlier statement attributed to him that the police did not want to have to use force to get into these communities, Dottin said:
“I must state, for the record, given the panoply of powers available to the police, in appropriate circumstances, we will use that force. But the point that I was making was that a civilised community should not operate in that way; that every time you go to a gated community you have to bring a battering ram to get in.
“And just as in other communities they are working out the arrangement that police patrol cars can trigger the electronic access and drive in unhindered, is something we have to consider. I have made the point that the appropriate agency has to give serious consideration at the stage of planning permission of what specification will be attached to gate access, even in relation to emergency services like the police.”
Responding to the charge that while police appear reluctant to enter these communities they show no restraint entering working class neighbourhoods or homes, Dottin said:
“As head of the force, that charge does worry me, because I think we try to be even handed. It is true that we have a lot of law and order problems in particular communities, but my officers know I have made it clear that we must adopt an even-handed approach in dealing with them.
“There is a need for robust enforcement, but there is also the need for engagement at another level to solve those problems.
“But I would not say the force takes a stand in communities that are challenged and are unwilling to enforce the law in so-called gated communities. I would say we strive to strike a balance.”
When questioned about the increasing number of complaints received by journalists in recent months about what appeared to be high-handedness by police executing warrants in some districts, the commissioner added:
Overzealous
“Police officers in Barbados generally do their job right, but sometimes they can be over-zealousness. In order to deal with the management and prevention of crime, which they are under pressure to deal with. There are some who will be over-zealous and we do not condone police work that is not done in accordance with correct procedure and the law.
“What bothers me too is something taking place under the surface; we all think about Barbados as being socially cohesive, but really that is not so, and it takes these incidents to bring all of those submissions to the fore.
“Yes, I would be the first to admit that we have a job to train and educate young police officers, some of whom are right out of secondary school and the Police Training Centre has to deal with these paradoxes.
roymorris @nationnews.com