by Emmanuel Joseph
Just 24 hours after the Barbados Police Service launched an investigation into the alleged unprofessional conduct of a female constable, another allegation of police misconduct has been made involving what appears to be uniformed officers caught on camera.
This time, 32-year-old artisan Daron Kirton of Tangerine Street, St Philip, has complained that his home was broken into, and hidden cameras show two armed police officers walking around inside while he was away at work.
Kirton has secured the services of lawyer Meshach Thornhill, who was on Tuesday in the process of bringing a lawsuit against the Commissioner of Police and Attorney General.
Thornhill also said he intends to refer the matter to the police’s Department of Professional Responsibility and the Police Complaints Authority.
The lawyer accused the police of breaking and entering, property damage and missing tools, and declared he would be using all available legal means at his disposal to seek remedies for his client.
“The law is clear on entering people’s homes,” said Thornhill. “You must have a warrant and it must be shown to the homeowner. But these police officers entered my client’s home in his absence.”
The surveillance footage seen by Barbados TODAY shows two men, one dressed in blue fatigues and a blue cap and brandishing a large gun with a strap, and the other wearing civilian clothing with a vest with POLICE emblazoned at the front and back and carrying a similar weapon. They are seen moving around inside the house and picking up various items before exiting.
Kirton recalled being alerted by a neighbour about the presence of officers near his home: “I received a call from one of my neighbours telling me the police next door to my neighbours, not at me. I was working. So, then when I come home, first thing I realised was tape around my windows. The nets pull and tape ‘round my windows. So, I say to myself, before I do anything, let me go and check the cameras, because I got cameras inside hidden…. So, I come, look on the cameras….
The first thing I see is the police in my place.”
“When it done, I ain’t get no explanation,”he added in an interview with Barbados TODAY. “They never come back to this day to say it was a mistake, nothing so. I never was in anything with the police.”
Kirton, who does tiling, carpentry and joinery, said that in addition to missing tools, windows were damaged, and even his dunks tree was raided.
He said he no longer feels safe in his home.
“I would like to see the outcome and what goin’ happen with this, cause them two officers shouldn’t be moving so,” he said. “Cause Lord knows how many breaking and entering happening and people may be blaming people, not knowing it could be the police that doing it.
This thing make me sit down and study and say to myself, sometimes I don’t feel safe sleeping in here at night, cause the way them come in here, that is the way thieves… move.”
He wondered what would have happened if he did not have the hidden cameras.
“Watch what would uh happened. I would have called the police and tell them somebody break into my house and . . . I would never hear nothing out of it,” Kirton contended.
Commissioner of Police Richard Boyce did not respond to Barbados TODAY’s request for comment up to the time of publication.
However, after receiving the information and video, Police Communications and Public Affairs Officer Inspector Rodney Inniss said: “Based on these facts, I cannot offer a comment on matters of alleged unprofessional behaviour which have been officially reported to the mentioned agencies. Especially, when an official investigation may be anticipated.”
On Monday, in response to a video and audio recording that appeared to show a female police officer hurling obscenities at a man in custody and admitting to kicking him and punching him, Inniss said that matter was being investigated.
The police spokesman said the recordings were the subject of an internal investigation for professional misconduct while a lawyer for the suspect said she had been instructed to take legal action against the police officer. emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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