ACTING Commissioner of Police McDonald Jacob says the police service has many concerns over the High Court's ruling that people charged with murder can apply for bail, chief of which is the safety of witnesses in these murder cases.
Nevertheless, the said that the police are prepared to treat with what is required of them if an application for bail is made by such an accused.
He spoke on Friday after the ruling of the Court of Appeal on Thursday which struck down a specific section of the Bail Act of 1994 which made murder an automatic non-bailable offence.
"We will always have a lot of concerns and our concerns are mainly with our witnesses and how other persons may view (it) if bail can be granted to persons.
'We won't go on to make a solid comment on it yet because it is still in the judicial process."
Other concerns were the public's reaction to the court's decision, of the ruling possibly being taken out of context, and of the "false sense of security" among people on remand who believe they can automatically get bail now.
"I think we should wait and see the outcome because it just went through the first or second stage in the judicial process."
In the likelihood the Appeal Court's decision is upheld at the Privy Council, Jacob said the police service has a battery of officers who are also attorneys who operate in the courts.
'And what will happen is that with the AG or DPP's office there will be training and we will be ensuring that our database with all the information on certain persons, criminal records will be prepared so we can provide cases of sufficient justification as to why bail should not be granted (in opposition of an application).
'We will basically tighten up our records system to ensure we can fulfil the requirement and ensure our court prosecutors are so advised.
"The police service together with the Ministry of National Security have the wherewithal and if necessary we would have to put particular things in place.
'But policing and law enforcement is dynamic, so we would adjust to suit but I think we are capable so if it comes to that we can make the adjustments.'
Jacob was also optimistic saying the Appeal Court's decision brought with it 'positives' for the police service.
'Number one, it causes us to really tighten up in the way we gather the information from our recording system on individuals.'
He said the service will have to improve on its methods of keeping track of individuals while also looking at the criteria required by the courts when dealing with bail.
'When we are putting our case together we know it has to be tight so we can satisfy the requirements of whether or not someone should get bail."
Also preparing for the effect of the ruling with the prosecutorial arm of the system would be Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC, who when questioned on the issue on Friday said, 'Are we ready? We must strive to be.'
The post CoP concerned about bail for murder ruling: What about safety of witnesses? appeared first on Trinidad an
