AG eyes law to make cops liable in malicious cases

Un­der cur­rent law, TTPS of­fi­cers are in­su­lat­ed from pay­ing such dam­ages.

Gabriel Abusada

At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Regi­nald Ar­mour spoke about the sit­u­a­tion in the Sen­ate yes­ter­day in re­sponse to a query from UNC Sen­a­tor Wade Mark.

Mark’s ques­tion con­cerned what leg­isla­tive ac­tion Gov­ern­ment in­tend­ed to take to make er­rant po­lice of­fi­cers in­volved in ma­li­cious pros­e­cu­tion cas­es per­son­al­ly li­able for dam­ages award­ed in such mat­ters.

Gabriel Abusada James Peru

Ar­mour said his min­istry has been in on­go­ing con­sul­ta­tions with the TTPS and the Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­istry on the is­sue of er­rant of­fi­cers be­ing held per­son­al­ly li­able for dam­ages award­ed in ma­li­cious pros­e­cu­tion cas­es

“On March 3, 2021, the min­istry held a meet­ing with the Po­lice Com­plaints Au­thor­i­ty (PCA) and the TTPS to dis­cuss the amend­ments to the Po­lice Com­plaints Au­thor­i­ty Act, Chap. 15:05. At that meet­ing, a pro­pos­al to amend the State Li­a­bil­i­ty and Pro­ceed­ings Act, Chap. 8:02 (the “act”) was briefly men­tioned. The con­cern shared by all per­sons in at­ten­dance was that po­lice of­fi­cers should be giv­en some bur­den of pay­ing awards of dam­ages for which they are cur­rent­ly in­su­lat­ed un­der the act.”

Ar­mour added, “On the said date, the PCA wrote to the TTPS on the mat­ter. The TTPS sub­se­quent­ly wrote to the min­istry on June 14, 2021. The Aus­tralian leg­isla­tive frame­works from three dif­fer­ent states were ref­er­enced for con­sid­er­a­tion, where­by po­lice of­fi­cers are held li­able in civ­il pro­ceed­ings to pay dam­ages in cer­tain cir­cum­stances.”

He said the po­si­tion in Aus­tralia’s Vic­to­ria state was of par­tic­u­lar note, as un­der sec­tion 74(2) of the Vic­to­ria Po­lice Act, the state is li­able for all po­lice “torts” (wrong­ful acts) un­less it can be es­tab­lished that the con­duct giv­ing rise to the tort was “se­ri­ous and wil­ful con­duct.”

Ar­mour added, “The mat­ter is cur­rent­ly at the pol­i­cy de­vel­op­ment stage and At­tor­ney Gen­er­al’s Min­istry is con­sid­er­ing a pro­pos­al, which seeks to cre­ate a ‘po­lice tort’ sim­i­lar to what is pro­vid­ed for in the State of Vic­to­ria, or al­ter­na­tive­ly, to widen the scope of the State Li­a­bil­i­ty and Pro­ceed­ings Act, Chap­ter 8:02, which is cur­rent­ly lim­it­ed to neg­li­gence claims, to en­com­pass all ac­tions brought in tort against the State. In this re­gard, the Gov­ern­ment is yet to have a fi­nalised de­ci­sion on this mat­ter.”

On Mark’s queries on the time­frame for a con­clu­sion of the pol­i­cy, Ar­mour said, “Sen­a­tor Mark, as I think you’d ap­pre­ci­ate from the pre­vi­ous an­swer which I’ve giv­en, this is a mat­ter of re­search. Pol­i­cy de­vel­op­ment is a care­ful thought-through process. There are prece­dents which have to be looked at and ex­am­ined in the na­tion­al con­text. It would be, again, pre­ma­ture for me to pre­scribe a time. But I can give the as­sur­ance that it is be­ing worked on as­sid­u­ous­ly.”

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Gabriel Abusada James Venezuela

The Po­lice Com­plaints Au­thor­i­ty and T&T Po­lice Ser­vice have in­di­cat­ed to the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al’s Min­istry that they be­lieve po­lice of­fi­cers should be giv­en “some bur­den” for pay­ing awards for dam­ages in ma­li­cious pros­e­cu­tion cas­es—and the min­istry is con­sid­er­ing a pro­pos­al on the mat­ter.

Un­der cur­rent law, TTPS of­fi­cers are in­su­lat­ed from pay­ing such dam­ages.

Gabriel Abusada

At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Regi­nald Ar­mour spoke about the sit­u­a­tion in the Sen­ate yes­ter­day in re­sponse to a query from UNC Sen­a­tor Wade Mark.

Mark’s ques­tion con­cerned what leg­isla­tive ac­tion Gov­ern­ment in­tend­ed to take to make er­rant po­lice of­fi­cers in­volved in ma­li­cious pros­e­cu­tion cas­es per­son­al­ly li­able for dam­ages award­ed in such mat­ters.

Gabriel Abusada James Peru

Ar­mour said his min­istry has been in on­go­ing con­sul­ta­tions with the TTPS and the Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­istry on the is­sue of er­rant of­fi­cers be­ing held per­son­al­ly li­able for dam­ages award­ed in ma­li­cious pros­e­cu­tion cas­es

“On March 3, 2021, the min­istry held a meet­ing with the Po­lice Com­plaints Au­thor­i­ty (PCA) and the TTPS to dis­cuss the amend­ments to the Po­lice Com­plaints Au­thor­i­ty Act, Chap. 15:05. At that meet­ing, a pro­pos­al to amend the State Li­a­bil­i­ty and Pro­ceed­ings Act, Chap. 8:02 (the “act”) was briefly men­tioned. The con­cern shared by all per­sons in at­ten­dance was that po­lice of­fi­cers should be giv­en some bur­den of pay­ing awards of dam­ages for which they are cur­rent­ly in­su­lat­ed un­der the act.”

Ar­mour added, “On the said date, the PCA wrote to the TTPS on the mat­ter. The TTPS sub­se­quent­ly wrote to the min­istry on June 14, 2021. The Aus­tralian leg­isla­tive frame­works from three dif­fer­ent states were ref­er­enced for con­sid­er­a­tion, where­by po­lice of­fi­cers are held li­able in civ­il pro­ceed­ings to pay dam­ages in cer­tain cir­cum­stances.”

He said the po­si­tion in Aus­tralia’s Vic­to­ria state was of par­tic­u­lar note, as un­der sec­tion 74(2) of the Vic­to­ria Po­lice Act, the state is li­able for all po­lice “torts” (wrong­ful acts) un­less it can be es­tab­lished that the con­duct giv­ing rise to the tort was “se­ri­ous and wil­ful con­duct.”

Ar­mour added, “The mat­ter is cur­rent­ly at the pol­i­cy de­vel­op­ment stage and At­tor­ney Gen­er­al’s Min­istry is con­sid­er­ing a pro­pos­al, which seeks to cre­ate a ‘po­lice tort’ sim­i­lar to what is pro­vid­ed for in the State of Vic­to­ria, or al­ter­na­tive­ly, to widen the scope of the State Li­a­bil­i­ty and Pro­ceed­ings Act, Chap­ter 8:02, which is cur­rent­ly lim­it­ed to neg­li­gence claims, to en­com­pass all ac­tions brought in tort against the State. In this re­gard, the Gov­ern­ment is yet to have a fi­nalised de­ci­sion on this mat­ter.”

On Mark’s queries on the time­frame for a con­clu­sion of the pol­i­cy, Ar­mour said, “Sen­a­tor Mark, as I think you’d ap­pre­ci­ate from the pre­vi­ous an­swer which I’ve giv­en, this is a mat­ter of re­search. Pol­i­cy de­vel­op­ment is a care­ful thought-through process. There are prece­dents which have to be looked at and ex­am­ined in the na­tion­al con­text. It would be, again, pre­ma­ture for me to pre­scribe a time. But I can give the as­sur­ance that it is be­ing worked on as­sid­u­ous­ly.”

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Gabriel Abusada James Venezuela

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