Kerrie: Police Service dragged into disrepute

Senior Minister Kerrie Symmonds says members of the Barbados Police Service have been “dragged into disrepute” by Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne coming out of a chaotic second day of the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) annual general conference.

He rubbished claims by Thorne that the Barbados Police Service did not act appropriately on Saturday to remove what he (Thorne) called a “rogue element” at the DLP’s George Street, Belleville, St Michael headquarters.

The conference was suspended after a section of the general membership attempted to have ousted president Dr Ronnie Yearwood and general secretary Steve Blackett reinstated, while those backing interim president Andre Worrell and general secretary Pedro Shepherd valiantly argued that the status quo with them in charge would remain as the conference had not officially started.

More than a dozen police officers were present but no arrests were made. At a subsequent press conference, Thorne characterised the interim faction as victims who were not protected by law enforcement.

“We believe this conference lost the protection of the Barbados Police Service,” he lamented. “We were given an undertaking that the breach of peace would be dealt with by having these persons excluded from the room . . . . We believe this conference lost the protection of the Barbados Police Service.”

However, Symmonds, the Member of Parliament for St James Central, pushed back on those claims.

“Mr Ralph Thorne’s comments about his faction being betrayed by the police are both absurd and nonsensical, and are also deeply unfortunate as an attempt to distract the public’s attention away from the disorderly and unrestrained lawlessness that prevailed and passed for a general conference,” he said.

“I would not normally comment on the obvious and persistent and ridiculous displays of the Democratic Labour Party, but I fear that on this occasion, the officers of the Barbados Police Service have been dragged into disrepute and are being falsely and wrongfully maligned.”

Felt betrayed

The minister said he heard Thorne during a press conference repeatedly stating he and his cohorts felt betrayed by the police, who according to him, did nothing to suppress the disruptive behaviour of his own party faithful.

“I want to urge the Democratic Labour Party as a whole and I want to urge Mr Thorne in particular, to understand the Barbados Police Service is not and cannot be treated as a play toy of the DLP, or an appendage which is funded by the public purse to manage the lawless and indisciplined in that institution.”

Symmonds noted that just a year ago, the DLP called in the police to investigate an internal matter of theft of voter lists in the lead-up to the general conference.

“They called in the police to investigate complaints of electoral fraud against each other, and the Barbados Police Force investigated. Nine months later, the DLP again called in the police to investigate what their general secretary at the time called an inside job, where a member or members broke into the compound and changed locks in order to prevent other members from having access, and again the police went. Now, for the third time in 12 months, the police are being called in again to look into another complaint about members of the party speaking to each other in an offensive way.”

The attorney said the police should not be blamed for Thorne’s own colleagues choosing not to leave their own general conference.

“The police cannot be faulted if his colleagues choose to remain at the conference and to protest his presence there. It is grossly unfair to the police. It is dragging them into a political quagmire where they have no reason to be, and was only done to deflect from the public scrutiny.” (BA)

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