Police Commissioner Vernon Francois.
Police Commissioner Vernon Francois wants to see a more speedy closure to investigations into allegations of extra-judicial killings by the members of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force.
Francois, in a Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), article is cited saying, “I was hoping that this process would have been completed by now because obviously it’s a cloud over the department and we need to move forward,” Francois said, adding that the original time frame for the investigation had been February this year.
Last year, a team of police investigators from Jamaica visited St. Lucia to conduct an independent probe into alleged extra-judicial killings of 12 persons by local police officers dating back to 2010 through 2012, in an “Operation Restore Confidence,” in which the lawmen are accused of having a Hit List of criminals whom they targeted.
The allegations had resulted in the United States banning local police from benefiting from any initiatives that it funds or organises. The ban is also in effect for Police Commissioner Francois, who could not participate in a Conference of Black Police Officers in the U.S last year.
“I have noticed that what is happening is that you get one thing out of the way and you automatically get into something else. If the desired outcome is not arrived at, you have to do something else.”
“We should not say subsequent to the investigation, let us do something else because we did not get a desired outcome,” Francois told a CMC reporter.