ACHIEVEMENTS

Some human rights work and activities done by the svghra during the past ten years.

POLICE BRUTALITY AND ILLEGAL POLICE METHODS

The police in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have committed numerous act of brutality against Vincentians over the years. Starting from the year 1996, the brutality of the police worsened. In that year a 12 year old boy who it was alleged stole a radio was picked up by police and taken to the Layou Police Station. They kept him at the Station without informing his guardian (his parents were absent) and tortured him. The police heated up eating knives to a red hot degree and placed them one after another on the boy’s penis. Must of the outer skin of the organ was burnt off. The three policemen involved were suspended from duty.

Because of the poverty of the family, the boy’s guardian accepted an out of Court settlement which was way below what should have been paid. Furthermore, the guardians indicated to the Court that he would not continue with the Criminal Prosecution, having taken a sum of money. It was clear that the police had succeeded in undermining this matter to save their torturous colleagues.

The SVGHRA and the local press condemned the police against this candlestine behaviour. We called for prosecutions against those who conspired to pervert the Court of Justice. This demand was not heeded by the Authorities.

The above has been quoted in some detail to show the seriousness of the problem of police brutality and the collusion of the police with others in authority to evade justice.

There have been several fatal shootings of civilians by police from the year 1996 to the present. Most of the shootings have been perpetrated on persons in police custody and in police stations. The police always allege they were attacked by their victims. The latest police shooting was in the month of August, 2001 when police broke into a house on the island of Bequia for the purpose of executing a warrant of arrest for non-payment of money charged on a criminal prosecution. In the process the police alleged that they were attacked. (three of them) by the judgment debtor and so they shot him in the face. Note, in all those shootings by the police of civilians, police have never been able to show any injury caused to them, as they have repeatedly alleged.

Regarding police illegal methods this is mainly police entering into private homes without search warrants and/or ransacking peoples personal belongings in such a way as to cause damage thereto.

The detention and strip searches of women for drugs (including intimate searches) have become a serious concern. Many of those searches made according to the evidence given by victims, are arbitrary and unnecessary. There is law which gives police power to make such searches, but the legal rules are strict. Police ignore the procedures in many cases. Sometimes, the women involved are indigent and there is no legal aid for them to access.