Hours after Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley expressed his own lack of confidence in the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) as it relates to fast and efficient investigations of police misconduct, the Authority reignited its call for greater legislative power. 

Read the statement from the PCA below:

The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) is a creature of statute designed specifically to conduct investigations into allegations of both serious police misconduct and criminal offences which may include officer involved shootings.

Since 2012 the PCA requested a series of amendments that have yet to be approved by the Legislation Review Committee. We look forward to our continued work with that Committee to finalize these amendments which would better serve the PCA’s and the Public’s interests. The PCA is bound by the PCA Act Chapter 15:05 in respect of which we have continuously sought amendments to improve functionality, including, but not limited to:
-Strengthening the requirement for immediate notification by the Offices of the Commissioner of Police and the Police Service Commission in relation to matters within the PCA’s purview;
-Being allowed to retrieve scientific evidence from the scenes of officer involved shootings including firearms, ammunition and DNA;
-Preserving the scenes of officer involved shootings;
-Submitting for testing all evidence obtained during an interrogation of the scene of an officer involved shooting.

Additionally, in 2016 the PCA hosted two public consultations on the matter of its pending amendments. Thereafter, the Honourable Attorney General agreed that the PCA’s powers are too limited.

In the absence of amended legislation, the PCA has been relegated to rely on other institutional bodies, including the TTPS, which as a result, delays the course of our investigations. This, in turn, poses further challenges in receiving in a timely manner:
-Critical documents from the Forensic Science Centre such as post mortems and certificates of analysis;
-TTPS investigative files for auditing purposes;
-Reports from officers who discharged their firearms or were present during such discharges.

The PCA has sought to remedy the aforementioned issues through discussing a Memorandum of Understanding with the TTPS which is yet to accede formally to the terms and conditions necessary to facilitate same.

In spite of these challenges, the PCA has made significant referrals to both the Offices of the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions. These achievements have been accomplished through the hard work and dedication of the staff of the PCA who perform Yeoman Service.

While the PCA is statutorily bound by confidentiality, details of referrals which are disclosable will be released in due course.