Police complaints body gives Top Cop reminder
Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) Cecil Kennard yesterday dispatched a letter to Police Commissioner (ag.) Henry Greene reminding him that on completion of the investigation into the shooting to death of a Riverview fisherman last week the report should be submitted to him.
Police in the past had bypassed Kennard’s office and submitted their report to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). One such case was the Donna Herod report which was sent to the DPP before the PCA chairman, who according to the law should review the report first before making recommendations to the DPP.
The former chancellor of the judiciary had objected to this, but it is not clear whether the police had been adhering to the principle. It is more than one week since Felix Da Silva was shot dead by a policeman during a confrontation at his home, located in the squatter settlement of Riverview, Ruimveldt. Police said they had gone to the man’s house to investigate a report of burglary, but he engaged them by chopping the policeman who retaliated by shooting him.