The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said while he understands how police morale could take a hit from frequent homicide-by-manslaughter rulings in the Coroner’s Court, he is unaware of the problem and would discuss the matter with the commissioner of police.

Attorney K Kelvin Munroe, who represented officers in most inquests over the last year, said recently that the adverse inquest findings give a “black eye” to the police force and lowers morale.

The national security minister said yesterday: “Again, as I said earlier, of course, if you are an officer and you are doing your duty and you are confronted with danger and you act, it can be disconcerting for civilians who you are protecting, who when they sit in the comfort of a courtroom are able to be Monday morning quarterbacks.”

“I can see how that can affect an officer if he feels full well he was acting in a manner, meet a threat, and responded as trained.

“I can see how that can impact that officer, and that is why in appropriate circumstances, when I was in practice, I represented them for free because I recognised that when they are standing on the line for me, I have to make sure that they are confident in doing their duty, that they don’t hesitate to do their duty or else it would have negative impacts on me.

“I will meet with the commissioner of police to make an assessment of if this is having an affect and why it is having an affect.

“So, for instance, are these officers being made to pay large legal fees out of their own pockets or somehow being otherwise disadvantaged before there is any adverse criminal or civil finding against them because the Coroner’s Court is not a criminal finding.”

Jurors returned two manslaughter findings this year and three last year. On Friday, they returned a justified homicide finding in the case of three men police killed in Blair Estates in 2019.