“The police force is in a very delicate position in regards to its image, island-wide and also regionally. And we want to do everything that we can to restore that image,” explained in a sit-down interview with a local media house on Wednesday.
This comes after the RSLPF charged veteran sergeant Ricardo Jerson Charlmagne with the offence of stealing in relation to the disappearance of an M16 rifle. The charge was made against Charlemagne on February 24th; by February 25th, he appeared before the First District Court and made an application for bail. His application was denied and he was remanded into custody at the Bordelais Correctional Facility.
Commissioner of Police, Verne Garde, says the RSLPF prides itself on integrity and accountability. “We would not allow anybody to cause any kind of embarrassment to the organisation without them being faced with the full brunt of the law. As a result, we have arrested and charged a particular officer and we will continue the investigation to ensure that we successfully bring the matter through the court,” he said.
Garde, while acknowledging that every organisation has its difficulties, says the theft of the assault weapon was a severe blow to the Force: “In every organisation you will find individuals who are generally institutionally corrupt and from time to time we will do all that we can to try to unroot these people from the organisation. The theft of the M16 was a hard hit for the Force.”
Garde thanked the team of officers responsible for the recovery of the weapon and said efforts still persist to rid the streets of illegal arms. “The recovery of that weapon was done through a lot of hard work, through the genuine officers in the organisation. We put our best foot forward to ensure that all intelligence processes work seamlessly so that we could try to recover this and other nefarious weapons in Saint Lucia,” he said.
While the charges against the officer are still only just alleged, his arrest and subsequent remand into custody has caused many quarters of the public to fear that corruption exists among the ranks of the RSLPF.
