One of our stories today features a report from the United Kingdom’s Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) that said a better system for recording the use of force by police in England and Wales is needed to improve public perception.

The IPCC says people think force is used more readily than a decade ago.
Its report also found people with mental health problems are more likely to die than others after force is used.

Instead of “poo pooing” this, the National Police Chiefs’ Council said the findings would contribute to a review it is carrying out.

The IPCC’s research found (over a 5 year period):
“A high death rate when restraint equipment, such as leg straps and belts, was used, or when police used force in a hospital
“People with mental health concerns were four times more likely to die than other people
“Young people experiencing use of force were disproportionately likely to be of black and ethnic minority (BME) background
“Half the incidents investigated took place between 21:00 and 03:00, when other services are less likely to be available
“In one case, an officer received a final written warning for head-butting a child.
“The IPCC is calling for the creation of a national database to record the use of firearms, Tasers and other restraint techniques to identify concerns and improve public confidence.”

Meanwhile, it has been announced that IPCC is to be overhauled and renamed.
Home Secretary Theresa May has said the watchdog will become the Office for Police Conduct. The reformed organisation will be headed by a director general instead of a number of commissioners.

When we have a tragic situation that occurred last Sunday and the perception is our police force did not respond quickly enough to help find the missing persons lost at sea that included two children, such an organization would have looked closely at it and come to a conclusion based on facts and not perception.

The two officers of the RCIPS who appeared on local television CITN/Cayman27 yesterday (8) evening were very brave but were also extremely lucky the interviewer was very kind to them. She asked the right questions but did not query the answers, one of which I knew not to be 100% correct. But, I have already said enough on the matter yesterday so I will move on.

My question is why don’t we have an Independent Police Complaints Commission?
We actually should although it would be called something different.

There is a requirement of the 2008 Police Law for a Police Public Complaints Authority that has not been put in place after EIGHT years.

Local lawyer Peter Polack wrote an article published by The Cayman Reporter last year where he had asked questions relating to missing drugs in police custody and the reply from the RCIPS was:

“With the current record structure, cases are filed by number and are tracked individually. We have no document that states what drugs may or may not be missing.”

On further query the RCIPS stated that this response “also applied to firearms”.

In 2014 it was reported, “a massive amount of RCIPS data had been lost as a result of a computer glitch with government computers. Since then there has been no further information forthcoming as to whether the lost information has been recovered nor has a description of what data had been irrecoverably lost been given.”

In October 2011, the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), had a case involving assault charges against a police officer dismissed, as video evidence from the Central Police Station went missing.

A prosecution for theft in May 2012 against a prominent social activist ended when Magistrate Valdis Foldats discharged the accused as a result of misconduct by a detective from the Financial Crimes Unit of the RCIPS. There was no public inquiry into this matter where a police officer acted as a “debt collector” nor was information on the ‘creditor’ disclosed.

The defence in a firearm case that ended in 2013 saw the proceedings stayed by the ODPP after attempts for over four years, to inspect the alleged firearm were rejected by the police.

The article concludes:

This ongoing lack of accountability, oversight or independent audit should be of great concern to the Minister of Home Affairs and those responsible for contract renewals of our sinecure Commissioner of Police.

The four year old legislation that created the Police Public Complaints Authority remains unimplemented by the Governor, Premier, Attorney- General and Commissioner of Police.

The undeniable facts are that until the public commands sufficient respect from the authorities to create police oversight and complaint bodies, the circus of missteps regularly rewarded by contract renewals will continue.

To read the whole article go to: http://www.caymanreporter.com/2014/10/16/missing-link-cayman-police/

When West Bay MLA Bernie Bush raised this same concern over the lack of implementation of the Police Public Complaints Authority (along with 19 others) the Police Commissioner David Baines was dismissive and very rude with his reply.

Then there is the overseer body that was supposed to be set up to supervise the tapping of our telephones. That has never been done.

Whilst this no oversight and accountability for police actions and the current policy of petty ticketing against the driving public continues, the respect and the assistance the public should give to the police is plummeting.

Transparency is the Name of the Game but ACTION is where it counts.

So I ask again WHY DON’T WE HAVE AN INDEPENDENT POLICE COMPLAINTS COMMISSION?