Ministry of Justice
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Draft Bill to Establish Independent Commission to be Brought to Parliament
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KINGSTON (JIS):
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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| Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Senator Dorothy Lightbourne |
A draft Bill establishing an independent commission to investigate excesses by the security forces has been prepared and is to be brought to Parliament.
This was disclosed by Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Senator Dorothy Lightbourne, during the sitting of the Senate on Friday (May 2).
She said that the draft Bill provides that employees of the independent commission should not have been members of the police force for the last seven years.
She explained that "this new body will be able to take over crime scenes and it will operate a 24-hour operation at all times. It would be regional in that you are going to have commissioners in each of the five police divisions and as soon as an incident occurs, they will go in."
"But it goes further," Senator Lightbourne said, noting that in cases of crime scenes, the commissioners will be responsible for carrying out investigations. "If they don't take it over, they will supervise the investigation in the crime scenes. One of the complaints we have had before was that crime scenes were not preserved and members of the public and people walked in and trampled over the evidence," she stated.
She also informed that there will be a Commissioner of Parliament and reports prepared by the commission will be taken to Parliament.
Cabinet, in November, issued drafting instructions for the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the excessive use of force and instances of abuse by members of the security forces.
In addition, Senator Lightbourne informed that a draft Bill creating the Office of Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute corruption in both the public and private sectors is also to be presented to Parliament. She noted that the Special Prosecutor cannot override the constitutional position of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
These initiatives, Senator Lightbourne said, "form part of a package of measures designed to transform the way in which the public and private sectors conduct business in the country."
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