191019 Is the Police Complaints System in Bermuda Broken?

19/10/2019 – The Civil Justice Advocacy Group, a pressure group, has claimed the police complaints system is “broken” and accused senior officers of being unfit for duty in a letter to the Governor. Allegations include:

• Commissioner of Police Stephen Corbishley and other top officers had not followed proper procedures in reviewing a complaint against senior officer Nicholas Pedro in a letter to John Rankin.
•  Mr Corbishley and Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Darrin Simons had joked about the group’s complaint when Mr Pedro was promoted to Superintendent.
• the way the complaint has been handled is an affront to public confidence.
• the police complaints system in Bermuda is broken and, based on their experience,
• the senior officers involved appear to be unfit for their responsibilities in relation to the same.”

The CJAG said Mr Corbishley made a joke about the investigation during Mr Pedro’s promotion ceremony … sound familiar … this is the ‘top cop’ who would like a fictional, somewhat unorthodox, some would say aggressive and rule-breaker, working for him!    Tweet here.

The CJAG were informed by Mr Pedro in September 2014 that “ … audio recordings were ‘not withheld or destroyed’ because they did not exist in the first place” and that no charges would be brought. But …  the recordings did exist and they were found earlier this year after the CJAG made a Pati request – the equivalent of the UK’s Freedom of Information Act.

So presumably, now the recordings have been located, charges could be brought?  The full story can be found here.

Are annual eye-sight tests compulsory for officers?  The conduct appears to fit the description of some ‘detectives’ in name only; unable to find their a-hole with a magnifying glass and a mirror!

Further reading:

23/09/2014 – There is no evidence that any other recordings were made in respect of other cases that form the CJAG complaint. It follows that audio recordings were not ‘withheld or destroyed,’ because they did not exist in the first place.

But recording did exist!

06/07/2017 – Justice Group ‘vindicated’ after ruling. The judgment, concerning a case from Mauritius, considered whether individuals convicted of crimes had the right to copies of the digital recordings of their trials when deciding whether to appeal.

31/05/2019 – A senior detective has been accused of leading a “botched investigation” into a set of missing court recordings, which were ultimately uncovered during an inquiry by the Information Commissioner’s Office. A formal complaint about Detective Superintendent Nicholas Pedro and his team, alleging gross incompetence, has been made to Stephen Corbishley, the Commissioner of Police, and is being investigated. Full story here.

27/09/2019 – Police inquiry finds detective innocent