The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net 

POLICE Commissioner Clayton Fernander said officers from the Security and Intelligence Branch are “seeing persons” and “documenting” information so far in their probe surrounding leaked voice notes, adding the controversy has affected the morale of officers.  

He gave no specific insight about what police have done to secure potential evidence in the case, which has grabbed headlines and plunged the police force into controversy.

He insisted the investigation was transparent, and that the evidence would be scrutinised with the assistance of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which guides major investigations.

On Friday, The Tribune reported that the police formally asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send diplomatic notes requesting Scotland Yard’s help investigating the matter, which has led Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson, the office in charge of the Central Investigation Department, to take garden leave.

Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell declined to comment yesterday on the status of discussions with the United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police.

Commissioner Fernander said police are still awaiting a response. 

“We had to document what we wanted and the assistance that we need,” he said in an interview with ZNS. “That was already done from my office and is presently in the hands of foreign affairs, which will be forwarded to the embassy here, and we will be in a better position and wait for their response.”

“But we are moving very quickly in respect to that and the paper trail has to continue.”

He said staff morale had been affected by the controversy.

“The vast majority of officers are good officers,” he said. “I’m talking about professional officers. As you know, we continue to weed out the bad apples. Yes, some of the officers feel down, and I had the opportunity to speak to a number of officers from different areas, and they’re prepared to rally together to ensure and protect the reputation of this noble organisation.”

The leaked recordings purport to capture a financial quid-pro-quo arrangement that would let the police drop their chase for Michael Fox, Jr, and Dino Smith, two men they suspected of being involved in a $1.4m bank heist in November. The men were never charged.

Both were murdered in separate incidents earlier this year. Michael Fox, Sr, the father of Fox, Jr, and Sandra Smith, the mother of Smith, claimed their sons told them to release the recordings if something happened to them. Ms Smith said she never received the tapes. Mr Fox, Sr, said he had them, but was not behind their release.

Sylvens Metayer, the man who appeared to initially release the recordings, was shot last week during a Facebook Live, an incident a number of American news organisations have since reported. He survived the incident, but his condition and whereabouts are unknown.