WITH a rise in reports against police officers between 2020 and 2021, the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) wants to be able to collect and demand financial information of any officer brought to its attention.
In its annual report for October 2020 to September 2021, which was laid in Parliament on Monday, Director of PCA David West recommended that several laws be amended to facilitate this.
West recommended that the Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (FIU) Act be amended to allow the Director of the FIU to forward to the PCA any report of suspicious transactions by a police officer.
He also suggested that the Income Tax Act, particularly section 4(2) be amended so that the PCA can be one of the authorised entities that the Board of Inland Revenue can disclose income tax returns and other financial documents deemed relevant to.
West's third recommendation regarding the finances of police officers was the amendment to the Miscellaneous Amendments Act, which amended Section 55 of the Financial Institutions Act. This amendment will allow the PCA to be one of the entities mandated by law to receive witness statements from those required to disclose financial information.
Apart from those recommendations, the PCA director is asking for the Coroner's Act to include the PCA as part of the 'interested parties' so the PCA can submit its investigative findings to court. He said currently only evidence from police are admitted into evidence and with some officers tardy in submitting files that cause undue delays, this will expedite cases.
'Amend the Evidence Act to include the PCA under the definition of 'law enforcement agency' to which the audio visual recording rules apply. In so doing this addresses any potential issues of inadmissibility of evidence obtained by the PCA by audio visual means.'
West also asked for the imposition of 'a duty on the Commissioner to provide a written decision with reasons to the PCA within three months of making a recommendation.' The final amendment request is to the Special Reserve Police Act to treat with special reserve police officer misconduct the same as regular police officers.
The 144 page report highlighted that for the second consecutive year both the Central and Northern Division had the most complaints with each division having 76 reports. The report said the two divisions totalled a third of the overall reports for the year.
In the Central Division the Chaguanas Police Station had the highest reports with 28 in 2020/2021 and 19 the previous year. Second on the list was Couva which had 10 reports for the reported period and seven the previous year.
The Northern Division saw Arima having the highest number of complaints compared to 14 the previous year. While Arouca had less reports for the 2020/201period with 12 compared to 18 previously, it was still the second highest in the division with St Joseph Police Station coming third. Like Arouca, St Joseph Police Station had less reports in the 2020/2021 year with 12 reports and 21 the previou
