SECURITY Minister Peter Phillips has called for a review of the country’s criminal justice system to avoid another embarrassing episode in which alleged drug traffickers evaded prosecution on technical grounds.

Phillips was referring to the controversial case of a Bahamian pilot and eight other men – including two cops – who recently beat drug-running charges lodged against them. The men had been involved in an alleged drug run from Tinson Pen Aerodrome last July involving a light twin-engine airplane.

Citing procedural errors, a judge threw out the case against the men last month, provoking outcry from Jamaica’s top narcotics cop, Carl Williams, who called the dismissals a victory for drug traffickers.

Police seized the Piper Navajo on July 13, 2003, following a shoot-out at Tinson Pen. The bullet-pocked plane nevertheless managed to escape from the cops, but returned five hours later.

Phillips acknowledged the need to respect civil liberties but, nevertheless, said it was vital that police can make “cases like Tinson Pen stick”.

Phillips delivered the keynote speech Wednesday evening while opening the “Third International Conference on Crime and Criminal Justice in the Caribbean”. The Tinson Pen case, he asserted, suggested there was a need for greater collaboration between the police and Director of Public Prosecutions before cases are brought to trial.

Speaking to about 250 people at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, Phillips said he recognised the need for checks and balances within the criminal justice system. But to avoid more problems like the Tinson Pen case, he said, he invited “scholarly inquiry to see what changes can be accommodated to improve efficiency and competency without opening up the system to abuse”.

“What I am suggesting is that our legal scholars, academic researchers and others re-examine the interface between the various elements of the criminal justice system involving the police; the Director of Public Prosecution; the courts, the legal fraternity, everything to do with the process from arrests through to investigation to prosecution and trial to see whether we can make the system more efficient and just,” he said.

Phillips expressed concern that failure to make cases like Tinson Pen stick could undermine confidence in the criminal justice system. The inability to “put away big dons behind the drugs, the guns and the killings”, he explained, would give criminals a sense of impunity, leave police officers frustrated, and, worst of all, create public cynicism towards law enforcement.

The four-day conference brings together academics and policy makers concerned with Caribbean crime issues.

Also attending are representatives form Latin America, Europe, North America and the Caribbean who are presenting papers examining issues related to crime and criminal justice on the regional and international scenes.