MEMBERS of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and in particular the officers commanding must tread carefully in dealing with the situation in St Ann where police officers are demonstrating against her Honour Miss Andrea Thomas, the senior resident magistrate.

The demonstrators are, in my opinion, wrongly blaming the magistrate for one of their members, a woman corporal, allegedly being placed in a cell with male detainees. My understanding is that the incident stemmed from the behaviour of the woman corporal in open court when being spoken to by the magistrate. The magistrate was questioning the delay by the police in performing certain responsibilities that should have been performed and were not performed.

The woman corporal was alleged to be speaking to the magistrate in a loud and aggressive voice while at the same time displaying insubordinate and inappropriate body language. The magistrate spoke to her on three occasions requesting her to conduct herself properly in the face of the court. The magistrate warned her to behave herself, to desist from the way she was conducting herself and to apologise. She continued to speak to the magistrate in a loud and aggressive voice refusing to tone down and ignoring the directives of the magistrate. If this version is correct the magistrate had a duty to take her into custody. She has a responsibility to protect the dignity of the court and to enforce the authority of the court against all persons appearing before the court.

The magistrate having made the order to place the woman corporal in custody, it is the duty of the police officers who took her in custody to place her in a location by herself or with other females but NEVER with male detainees. Indeed, police officers in St Ann have been scrupulous in keeping male detainees separate from female detainees because several years ago while male and female detainees were being kept at the Ocho Rios Police Station, a male detainee managed to get into the adjoining cell where females were being kept and then raped a female detainee. Since then, police officers in St Ann have adhered to the standing procedure of keeping male and female detainees separate.

In my opinion the call by members of the constabulary for there to be sanctions must be a call for there to be sanctions imposed on the officers who placed their colleague among male detainees.

The commissioner of police should also punish those officers and a file should be submitted to the director of public prosecutions on the matter for a ruling as to whether there is any act of gross negligence. The woman corporal should, with the leave of the commissioner, file a claim against her colleagues who placed her in the cell, against the commissioner of police and against the attorney general for breaches of her constitutional rights.

If what is set out herein is a true record of what transpired in court then the learned magistrate stands blameless and should be commended for exhibiting firmness and determination in insisting that the court be respected and protected and that members of the constabulary force perform their duties as required when they have conduct of matters.

Linton P Gordon is an attorney-at-law who is based in St Ann.