And one statistic that a police officer contributed to is weapons seized. Constable Stephanie Patten had hundreds of rounds of ammunition and three unlicensed guns in her house. As we told you, she is facing a number of gun and ammunition charges after the police conducted a raid on her Orange Walk home and turned up a stash of high-powered weapons.
She was remanded without bail last week, and she is expected to face internal disciplinary charges. You heard how the Commander of the Professional Standards Branch say yesterday that she ought to have answered to similar charges 18 months ago. That's when she was caught driving a pickup with 20 kilos of weed.
Here's what the Commissioner had to say about that:
Daniel Ortiz
"Why was it that, in the first instance, there were no disciplinary charges in that case, Sir?"
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"Then, I guess he reported himself to the media because he's the person in charge of Professional Standards Branch. It is his duty to conduct the investigation, if you believe that there was need to have done so. Certainly, it could have been an investigation in futility because the issue of proving that she had knowledge would still be difficult, concerning that a person came forward and said that it was his and he put it in there.They just borrowed his vehicle, whatever the case may be, even though we might not believe that. But it is what they're saying, and there is nothing in the evidence to refute his claim. But if Mr. Flowers had thought then that she could have been dealt it internally, he could have done so."
Daniel Ortiz
"Was he the serving commander at that time when that case first emerged, sir?"
Chester Williams
"I believe so. He was, yes."
We note that while the Commissioner suggested that Sr. Superintendent Calbert Flowers was the one who was leading Professional Standard Branch during Patten's first brush with the law, he told us that he was not the head of PSB at that time.
So, what crime were Patten and her co-accused preparing for? Here's what the Commissioner had to say on that topic:
Daniel Ortiz
"Those items are prohibited, mostly used by security forces personnel."
Chester Williams
"Well, certainly the type of weaponry is alarming, and I cannot at this time, say what type of crime, if any, there are going to commit. But, one certainly can reasonably assert that they would carry out some illegal activity. What that activity is, we do not at this time. There are certain things we have gathered through intelligence that I'm not going to divulge to the public either."
