|
|
|
| NEWS > 14 April 2006 |
Other related articles:
German police recruit faces fo
MAINZ, GERMANY - German police Monday began a recruitment drive for testers to try out a new computer video system designed to recognize terrorist suspects in crowds.
From October, seven cameras are to scan the faces of commuter crowds moving through the railway station in the western city of Mainz, hunting for the 200 testers, all innocent people who must agree to their photos being temporarily kept in police files.
Mainz was at the centre of a bomb scare on July 31, when an unexploded suitcase bomb was found in its lost-property office. Two Lebanese students alleged t... Read more
|
 Article sourced from
|
|
Cayman Net News - grand cayman
14 April 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
|
Stuart Kernohan,
|
Cop charged as investigation c
The Courts of the Cayman Islands will soon hear evidence that may convict a Police Officer of Official Corruption.
Should he – Police Constable Keith Nathaniel Gutherie, 37, of Prospect Drive – be found guilty, he could end up behind bars for a maximum of five years.
Mr Gutherie was arrested on Sunday 9 April for Suspicion of Corruption and charges were filed on 12 April.
A detailed description of the circumstances that led to Mr Gutherie’s arrest was not available up to press time.
This was because such information was embargoed until the accused appeared in Court for his bail hearing when a summary of facts relating to his case would be made public.
However, substantial information relating to Mr Gutherie’s case can be gleaned from the fact that he was charged under Section 4, Part IV, #89 of the Penal Code.
This portion of the Code states, “Being employed in the public service and being charged with the performance of any duty by virtue of such employment, corruptly solicits, receives or obtains or agrees or attempts to receive or retain any property or benefit of any kind for himself or any other person on account of anything already done or omitted to be done, or to be afterwards done or omitted to be done, by him in the discharge of the duties of his office or (b), corruptly gives, confers or procures, or promises or offers to give or confer, or procure or attempt to procure, to, upon, or for any person employed in the public service, or to, upon or for any other person, any property or benefit of any kind on account of such act or omission on the part of the person so employed, is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of five thousand dollars and to imprisonment for five years.”
Official Corruption is a Category B offence – that is, it does not land the accused in the Islands’ Grand Courts as a Category A offence, such as murder, would.
However the seriousness of the crime is grave. According to Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) Media Liaison Officer, Deborah Denis, similar charges have been extremely rare in the Service.
However the RCIPS Chief, Stuart Kernohan has seen the officer’s actions as “reckless” and has called out to the public to report suspicions of corruption in the police force.
The RCIPS is still carrying out investigations into this matter to see if there are other officers guilty along with Mr Gutherie, Ms Denis confirmed.
If any other officers are implicated then this would cast a shadow on the entire force. Any more officers being charged in this matter could mean a change in the charges too already laid against Mr Gutherie.
Depending on what the investigations unearth, the charges against him could be amended to result in a Grand Court indictment.
In the meantime however one member of the legal fraternity here surmised that there is very little chance of Mr Gutheie not being granted bail.
“Charged under that section of the Penal code, the act could, more than likely, be deemed done, and Mr Gutherie would not be considered a threat to society.”
Meanwhile this latest news comes after revelations that another officer, still on the job in the RCIPS, was hired here within weeks of escaping a full investigation of charges of corruption against him in Canada.
It is alleged that that officer suddenly resigned when Toronto police Internal Affairs investigators were finishing a probe of the officer’s conduct in relation to involvement in a price-gouging motor vehicle licensing ring.
“The reality is, no police force can be completely immune from unacceptable behaviour,” said Mr Kernohan.
“If a police officer violates the law that (he or she has) sworn to uphold, it erodes the public trust that we work so hard to gain. Any reckless actions by individuals that undermine the integrity of this police service and damage the public trust will not be tolerated.”
|
| |
 EiP Comments:
|
|---|
|
| |
* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 |
Ethics in Policing, based in the UK, provide information and advice about the following:
Policing Research | Police News articles | Police Corruption | International Policing | Police Web Sites | Police Forum | Policing Ethics | Police Journals | Police Publications |
|
| |
|
