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  • 8 months ago
Two people have been charged for offences at the One Caribbean Music Festival, which led to officers in riot gear getting involved.
But the action by law enforcement, has been criticised by some, and is now also the subject of an investigation.
Alicia Boucher tells us more.
Transcript
00:00the one caribbean music festival played off without any major security breaches
00:05save and except for a female patron who stormed the stage and proceeded to tamper with equipment
00:11and a man who was among others pelting objects onto the stage he found himself in the hands of
00:16police acting commissioner of police junior benjamin confirms that charges have been laid
00:22one person was charged three missiles and another person for malicious damage however
00:28the actions of police have been criticized by some on social media as well as former commissioner
00:34of police gary griffiths who called it quote unquote an example of backward untrained policing
00:42he went on further to say that under a professional police system the officers would be sent on
00:47immediate suspension further suggesting that those in tactical gear did not understand the use of force
00:53policy the former top cop said once a suspect was unarmed he should have been subdued by unarmed
01:00training including through handcuffing and the use of pepper spray he's of the view that such incidents
01:06only serve to erode public trust in the police well in response to the incidents commissioner benjamin
01:12notes that while the public audit team did rush in to de-escalate the situation the action appears
01:17questionable a level of force was used that probably in the opinion of others might seem you know
01:24disproportionate nevertheless um i want to say that first and foremost we really want to
01:31reach for instance that you know there's a level of control that you need to always have as we deal
01:37with matters and even with police officers we there's a level of professionalism and the use of force
01:44policy so even in this matter we take absolutely no pride in saying that you know this is something
01:53that we were sitting looking to benjamin says outside of that situation his officers effectively managed
01:59the crowd of about 5 000 which attended the event at the queen's park savannah presently i've just spoken to
02:06the acp that was in charge he grew commander acp henry henry as well as i've spoken to the head of the
02:13garden emergency branch and our investigation will be launched into the matter to ensure that at
02:19least you know um we get to the real reason as to what transpired and we are also going to ensure
02:27if there is any breach of the use of force that the necessary actions will be taken but at the end of
02:32the day what we really want to do is to ensure that the lessons are learned and that we continue to
02:38ensure safety and security for all alicia boucher tv6 news
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