On Monday we told you about the complaint of domestic abuse made by Shyne Barrow's wife, Catherine.
She claimed that on Saturday morning, he kicked her in the back, as she was attempting to go to her mother's house with their child.
A doctor certified an injury to her toe as harm, and while she did not request court action, she did say that she would be seeking a protection order.
But, Mrs Barrow later withdrew her statement - and in his own statement, Shyne said that they'd only had a verbal dispute.
But, where were the police? Last year, commissioner Chester Williams said that - because domestic violence was leading to much more serious and deadly crimes - police would proceed with charges even when the complaint was rescinded - and let the courts decide.
Today, he said that protocol had to be downgraded:
Jules Vasquez
"Should not the police have proceeded with charges as you said would be the protocol when such cases arise even if the complainant is reluctant to bring such charges for whatever reason?"
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"Jules there are many protocols that we have but at the end of the day, you can't really follow them to the letter. The young lady did reach the police station and she made it clear from the onset that she only wanted to make the report for future reference and to be able to assist her to go to family court to seek a protection order. We had said that we were going to charge him with every case of domestic violence and it did not sit well with some agencies who have said that the hard and fast policy was depriving many women who are victims of domestic violence from coming forward because they were afraid that if they go to the police even to make a future reference report, that their spouse would be arrested. So because of that, many of them were not coming, so we have since in circumstances where if the person makes it emphatically clear like in the case of Ms. Barrow, that they want nothing, they only want to go to the family court to seek whatever remedy they court can give them, then we go with that. At the end of the day Jules there are many persons out there who want to condemn me as the commissioner for not forcing the police to charge and the young lady came back and withdrew her complaint and made it clear from the onset, that she does not want nothing but some of the same people want to condemn me, they are out there doing worse than Shyne Barrow, just that their woman or their wives are afraid to come forward and make a complaint but at the end of the day we have to be real, if you want to take the specs out of somebody else's eye, take one out of yours first, so that you can see what is in their eye and that is what they need to understand right. We are in silly season, everything now is about politics right but as a police department and so long as I am the commissioner, I'm not going to allow the police department to be used to foster no political agenda for either side."
