News Blogger: INDECOM

Showing posts with label INDECOM. Show all posts

Thursday, September 12, 2013

INDECOM probes death of inmate in Mandeville

Saturday, August 24, 2013

INDECOM challenging court ruling on release of Digicel call data

News

BY PAUL HENRY Co-ordinator — Crime/Court Desk henryp@jamaicaobserver.comFriday, August 23, 2013

THE Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) is now challenging a ruling by the Supreme Court that it has no authority to compel telecoms giant Digicel to provide it with call data.Justice Ingrid Mangatal made the ruling last June on a case brought by the investigative body, which is trying to obtain telephone numbers and call data of the police officers allegedly involved in a conspiracy linked to the 2009 shooting death of entertainer Robert ‘Kentucky Kid’ Hill at his home at Ivy Green Mews near Cross Roads.Mangatal had ruled that:* Digicel is restricted from providing subscriber information regarding the use of its services by third parties to INDECOM pursuant to subsection 47 (1) of the Telecommunications Act;* Digicel is not compellable under section 21 (1) of the INDECOM Act to provide customer/subscriber information and/or traffic data to INDECOM; and* Digicel is not compellable under section 21 (4) of the INDECOM Act to provide to provide customer/subscriber information and/or traffic data to INDECOM.Mangatal had stated in her ruling: “If Parliament had intended INDECOM to be able to compulsorily obtain from Digicel or any other telecoms provider information — which by section 47(1) of the Telecoms Act the provider is required by statute to keep secret, and in respect of the disclosure of which the Interception of Communications Act provides for limited circumstances — then they would have legislated for the same type of provision in the INDECOM Act as exists in the Contractor General’s Act.”INDECOM has appealed the decision on several grounds, including that “the learned judge erred in stating that on a correct construction of section 21 of the INDECOM Act, INDECOM didn’t have the authority to require Digicel to produce secret or confidential information”.The commission is asking the court to set aside Mangatal’s ruling.It is seeking the following declarations:* that Digicel is mandated to provide subscriber or traffic data to INDECOM by virtue of the INDECOM ACT;* that Digicel is compellable to provide subscriber or traffic data to INDECOM by virtue of section 47(2) (b) of the Telecoms Act; and* that the commissioner of INDECOM or any INDECOM investigator may be given subscriber or traffic data by Digicel, having regard to section 47 (2) (b) (i) of the Telecoms Act.– Paul Henry

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INDECOM challenging court ruling on release of Digicel call data

Thursday, August 1, 2013

INDECOM has power to arrest and charge, Court rules

Saturday, July 27, 2013

JDF softens stand on INDECOM oversight

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Antony Anderson, was severely criticised, yesterday, by members of a joint select committee of Parliament reviewing the INDECOM Act, for the suggestion that the army should not be subjected to the Act.

Major General Anderson earned the wrath of the members after indicating that Jamaica should follow the cue of countries like Northern Ireland and South Africa, which subject their armies to investigations by the police, instead of an “ombudsman”.But, Opposition MP Delroy Chuck pointed out that Jamaica’s situation was different from that which obtains in Northern Ireland and South Africa. He noted that while the practice in Jamaica is for the army to support the police in anti-crime operations, the army and the police are combined in those countries.“The JDF is frequently called on, especially in volatile communities and regrettably things happen and human rights are abused. I can’t see it (the Act) not including the JDF,” the opposition’s spokesman on national security said.He was supported by Opposition Senator, Tom Tavares Finson, who said that the British army would not subject itself to oversight in Northern Ireland, while the South African army has not subjected itself to oversight since the days of apartheid.“You must recognise that people are not going to sit by and allow you to continue to operate in the way that you did in the past. It is not going to happen,” Tavares Finson said.Government Senator Lambert Brown pointed to the JDF’s history of conflict with the public, in terms of operations like Green Bay in the 1970s, which led to the need for oversight.He also noted that the Prime Minister heads the Defence Board, to which the JDF can make their complaints, if they felt their activities were being affected. Government Senator Wensworth Skeffery asked the Chief of Staff, how the JDF expected to deal with the perception that it does not wish to be subjected to any investigations outside its ranks, and wanted to perpetuate a culture of being above any such intervention.Anderson claimed that the JDF was only asking that the committee look at the discrepancies between the Defence Act and the INDECOM Act and give consideration to its positions on the issues.“The fact is that we have never been concerned about being investigated independently, or holding our people accountable for what they do or being held accountable,” the chief of staff said.He said that, while the JDF had highlighted the issue of exclusion in its written submission to the committee, he had deliberately not highlighted it in his oral presentation, Thursday. However, he insisted that there was a problem in terms of how INDECOM handles its reports.But, INDECOM Commissioner, Terrence Williams, insisted that there was no need for the JDF to have concerns about the report. He said that INDECOM’s practice has always been to send an advanced copy to both the JDF and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), seeking their response.He said that this gives both arms of the security forces an opportunity to comment and suggest changes prior to their release.“If it is that they were to say, change a paragraph, and we say, no, they could take it to the court or seek a judicial review of our decision,” Williams said.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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JDF softens stand on INDECOM oversight

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

INDECOM calls for public’s co-operation

THE Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), mandated to investigate actions of the police, has called for residents across the island to play a greater role in helping the organisation execute its duties.

Terrence Williams, commissioner of INDECOM, issued the appeal following an incident on Red Hills Road, Kingston, yesterday where angry residents mounted fiery roadblocks in the vicinity of Karl Samuda Way and Park Lane to protest against the fatal shooting of two men in the area.The roadblocks slowed early morning traffic on Red Hills Road to a crawl, and according to Williams, they prevented INDECOM officials from carrying out their investigations.“The action also significantly hampered investigations by INDECOM as officials had to leave the scene quickly because of the protest which followed shortly after our arrival,” Wiliams said.As a result, the organisation convened an emergency meeting during which he made the appeal for citizen cooperation. He also noted that the incident was the second of its kind in the past two months.“When you are angered by these shootings, we are there to investigate and to ensure that as much as possible, the truth comes out,’ Williams told the meeting.The two men have been identified as 29-year-old Gary Cooke and his brother, 20-year-old Sayoga Cooke, who lived in the area known as ‘Common’ which runs off Red Hills Road. Police say they were shot and killed in a shoot-out and a semi-automatic pistol recovered.Residents have, however, refuted the claim and took to the streets to vent their anger.They alleged that about 11:00 pm Monday, the brothers were travelling in the area when they were stopped by the police and questioned. They further claim that the police first fired at Sayoga and then at Gary, who had made an attempt to run.Placard-bearing residents from both communities condemned the killings and said the police personnel who carried out the acts were upset that both men had recently been acquitted of a gun charge in the High Court.“Dem kill dem in cold blood; there was no shoot-out. The police dem vex because the judge order Sayoga and Gary to walk free,” one woman with tear-filled eyes said.The Cookes lost an elder brother to a gunman’s bullets some years ago.These women congregate at the entrance of Park Lane on Red Hills Road yesterday to protest against the fatal shooting of two brothers at Karl Samuda Way in a community known as ‘Common’. (PHOTO: LIONEL ROOKWOOD)

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INDECOM calls for public’s co-operation

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Will INDECOM get powers to prosecute?

News

BY ALICIA DUNKLEY-WILLIS Senior staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com Saturday, June 29, 2013

JUSTICE Minister Senator Mark Golding says the handing down of a judgement by the Constitutional Court on whether the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) has powers to prosecute is being anticipated by the Joint Select Committee of Parliament tasked with reviewing the Act establishing the body.INDECOM, headed by Commissioner Terrence Williams, was established in August of 2010 with a mandate to investigate fatal shootings and reports of abuse by other agents of the State. It essentially removed the power from the security forces to investigate themselves.Section 37 of that Act establishing the commission requires that it be reviewed by a committee of both Houses of Parliament not later than three years after the date of commencement of the Act.“That third anniversary date is soon to be upon us and it was considered to get the committee up and running to do its work,” Golding said during the first meeting of the committee on Thursday.“That matter of whether or not INDECOM has powers to prosecute is a matter that has been litigated and there is a judgement of the Constitutional Court pending. My understanding is that the matter ended in February 2012 and the judgement is long outstanding,” the justice minister noted.Golding said he would like the judgememnt to be handed down as soon as possible so that it can inform the committee’s deliberations. “I believe that it’s going to be handed down at the end of this month which is any day now,” he said.Stating that he did not know “whether that deadline will be met”, Golding said he was in agreement with the suggestions of other committee members that the opinion of the Director of Public Prosecutions should be sought on the issue.“I also am of the view that INDECOM must have the power to prosecute cases, however, I wouldn’t say they haven’t achieved anything, they have achieved a lot,” Golding told the group.Golding’s comments were sparked by an observation made by Opposition Spokesperson on Justice Delroy Chuck during the meeting.According to Chuck, the frustration of the INDECOM Commissioner Terence Williams is because the objective of the body is not being achieved. “The objective was not only to investigate and collect material but my understanding is that he thought, and I think the vast majority of us thought, that he would have been able to prosecute; but with the interception of the DPP in that matter in Negril it is an area of ambivalence now,” Chuck noted.In the Negril incident, INDECOM investigators had charged Corporal Malica Reid in 2011 with the 2010 murder of Negril businessman Frederick “Mickey” Hill, and was planning to take the matter to court. However, the director of public prosecutions contended that INDECOM did not have the power to arrest and charge Reid. INDECOM was later criticised for acting prematurely in charging the police corporal, only to hear in court that DPP Paula Llewelyn had not yet ruled on the case.Chuck said the principles involved in the issue were still very much alive.

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