This evening, Police Commissioner Chester Williams held a press conference via Zoom and weighed in on the Hartin situation - including the new charges now against her.
Here's what he disclosed in that conversation:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I know that there are 2 persons from a resort in San Pedro who visited the San Pedro Town police station on Wednesday and they lodge a complaint in respect to Miss Jasmine Hartin. Based on the complaint that was lodged the San Pedro police had requested that whenever Miss Hartin would have reported to sign in at San Ignacio Town police station, that she be detained as the major of the report was for use of indecent language, I think common assault and disorderly behavior. I also saw that there was some video footages that were on different news and social media outlets which to some extent depicts the behavior of Miss Hartin when she visited some hotel in San Pedro. you would know that upon being granted bail by the supreme court, one of the condition of her bail was that she is to be of good behavior and the actions depicted on the footages as well as the complaint made by the 2 individuals surely goes to show that she is not being og good behavior and so on that basis we are requesting of the DPP to approach the supreme court and to have her bail revoked on the basis that had violated the bail condition by not behaving in a orderly manner as the court had directed her to do."
We also asked the Commissioner about that drug-related charge for some 0.4 grams of suspected cocaine that was allegedly found in her position shortly after the shooting death of Superintendent Henry Jemmott. He said that police wanted to be sure before charging her for it:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"When she was detained subsequent to the killing of Mr. Jemmott, police had found some white substance that they believe was cocaine, but were not so sure and so the substance was sealed and weighed and package in her presence and it was sent to the national forensics lab for analysis because we want to be sure and we have received the result of that analysis and it proves that it was cocaine and so he is now being charge in respect of that small amount of cocaine. I think it was 0.4 grams."
The Commissioner was also frank about what he characterizes as an overreach by our news team yesterday. You'll remember that Hartin gave 7News her very first interview since she was detained on the night of Superintendent Jemmott's shooting death. The problem is that Hartin was in the custody of San Ignacio Police yesterday when I spoke to her. Persons in detention are not allowed to speak with anyone, especially the press. And that's why the Commissioner is agitating for disciplinary actions against the officer who was responsible for Hartin's custody at the time:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Believe you me upon seeing the news last night on Channel 7, I was extremely pissed and I immediately called the OC in San Ignacio and asked what happened because that ought not to have occurred, but again, I guess the aggressive nature of Channel 7 they were able to infiltrate the police station and get their interview. While I cannot hold them accountable for what happened, I hold the police, because the police ought to have taken every precaution to ensure that the media did not enter the station and even more so, that they did not interview a person, a prisoner in police custody. That is a total violation of our protocols and the OC in San Ignacio had been directed to ensure that the sergeant was on duty be dealt with in respect of that matter."
