Yesterday we told you about Aaron Wilson, who was detained for 20 hours and charged with boisterous behavior. This is because he confronted a cop at the police station after she hung up the phone on him.
When he went to the station, he recorded their conversation prior to being charged. Upon his release, he sent the video to the ComPol.
However, crown counsel, Riis Cattouse, has called out the police department for continuous and flagrant abuse of human rights through excessive detentions.
And while the ComPol sided with Wilson, he doesn't agree with Cattouse, since he says the department has mostly cleaned up its act, and that these types of abuses have drastically reduced.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I watched the video and the night when Mr. Wilson was released from police custody on bail, he reached out to me on social media, on Messenger, and he also sent me the video footage. And after having viewed them, I responded to him and said that what I saw does not amount to boisterous behavior, and I also advised him to have gone to the Raccoon street police station to make a complaint to PSB and that that would have the matter addressed by PSB. I again contacted him yesterday and spoke to him at length and he said that he was going to PSB to make the complaint. I've not checked with PSB if he did go in, but again, you all would know that I have a very tough stance when it comes to police abuse, and that's the reason why I do not agree with the statement of the Crown Counsel and the DPP office. I think that his statements that he gave to the media while I agree with some aspect of it, I think it was rather more defamatory towards the police and tried to paint the police in such a way that it is not really true. As members of the media, you all can say without a doubt that over the years you have seen a tremendous decrease in police abuse across this country, and it's because of the stance that myself and the minister has taken and even the Human Rights Commission, because he copied the Human Rights Commission. The Human Rights Commission can also attest to the fact that the police department have done a lot with them to try and sensitize the police in terms of human rights norms and get the police to adhere to these norms. And we have gone at length to make sure that we train our officers in a different human rights norms and even to the extent of printing booklets and giving police officers to be able to make sure that they know exactly what the human rights of individuals are for compliance. So far, Mr. Cattouse had said that every day the police is violating the rights of people in this country. That is not true. It's a statement that is far from the truth. And I think that he should retract that aspect of his statement and with that, then I would have more issue in terms of what he had wrote, because the truth is, as a law enforcement organization, there's a need for us to ensure that we do our job in such a way that we do not infringe on the rights of people."
The ComPol also explained that once Wilson makes the report to PSB, the officer will be disciplined.
