This weekend police officers were in an uproar after an internal report made by one of their colleagues. It showed that thing we always hear about but rarely get proof of: a big timer in a small community using his or her influence to force the police to back off.
Here's what happened: At around 4:00 am on Sunday, San Ignacio police responded to reports of a fight in front of a nightclub. Two police constables tried to close it down. But they say the club's owner, who appeared intoxicated, allegedly pushed the officer, snatched a drink from another nearby officer, and threw it on the constable.
The club owner was detained and found to be carrying a firearm. He was escorted to the San Ignacio police station. That's when the junior cop says he got a call from his officer commanding ordering the businessman's release.
Shortly after he was released, the apparently intoxicated club owner allegedly stormed back into the station demanding the return of his weapon on the orders of the OC. Police called to confirm the directive and released the firearm to the club owner, who then, according to the officer's complaint, quote, "he loaded the firearm raised it my direction where I was standing by the counter….and said you see I done get it back."
Eventually the business owner had to be asked to leave the station house. So, what does the commissioner have to say about it? He took a surprisingly moderate tone:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"That's the matter that I find extremely troubling and I explain that this morning to officers in conference that I do not endorse the action of the OC in terms of releasing the man. Yes, the man has a story that is inconsistent with what the officers are saying but he was already in custody."
"They could have investigated and verified which of the two sides were not telling the truth and then based on that make a determination, but for the OC to have just ordered that the man be released without even investigating to see whether or not he's speaking the truth or the officers are telling the truth, I find that to be extremely wrong and I told that to Mr. Franco this morning in conference. I have since directed that they put together an investigative team because I'm sure that the liquor establishment has camera and should be able to pick up what actually transpired as well as the police station also has camera that should pick up what transpired."
"So I have directed the Western regional commander to ensure that the investigative team goes to these different locations, retrieve the camera footages, look at it and based on that we're going to make a determination."
"Now in terms of the man being intoxicated or believed to have been intoxicated whilst in possession of firearm then by all means my policy is and I am extremely strict where that is concerned that the firearm should have been confiscated by the police and the proper investigation conducted and maybe even go to the extent of charging him for being a posture of firearm whilst under the influence. That was not done and again I have an issue with that."
Jules Vasquez
"He should also be charged for under the influence in possession of a firearm."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"And you see that's where the difficulty comes in now because the firearm has been released to him. They had not received from him any blood or urine samples so to charge for it now is too late and that's what makes me extremely upset because that opportunity was never given to the police officers to make the request of him to give the the blood or urine sample, so the test could have been done to determine if he was under influence whilst in possesion of a firearm."
Jules Vasquez
"Sometimes you have these powerful or these wealthy enterprise owners in a municipality who always seek to build up favor with the officer in charge, maybe they have him out to eat at their restaurants, that sort of thing."
"Are you concerned that in this case that the man may have bought some influence, that influenced how he was treated at the police station?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I'm not going to go that far because the truth is Mr Franco has demonstrated good leadership in the San Ignacio area. I have no difficulty with him before until this one particular incident. I don't intend to kill him for it, but at the same time he must understand where he had gone wrong."
Jules Vasquez
"But sir, the greatest violation was what the officer said that then he came back for the gun and he brandished it. This is what the officer claims. He brandished it and said, see I still get back the gun. How can that happen? That has to make, that has to rankle every bone in your body."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Like I said, I'm troubled about it and..."
Jules Vasquez
"But you should not be troubled. You should be outraged and say, Mr Franco, haul you....."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"No, no, no, no, no. There is what you refer to as due process and I will not kill Mr Franco because of one error."
"The man has demonstrated to be a very good commander in the San Ignacio area and I respect that. Yes, this time he may have had a bad judgment in respect of how he dealt with the matter and we're still not sure yet if that is what transpired and that's the reason why I'm saying we need to get the video footages from the station because the station do have cameras as well, as well as from the nightclub and that will tell us exactly what transpired."
"And if it is that he brandished the firearm after it was given to him, then that's another issue we have to look at to see if he can be charged for aggravated assault the police officers."
