Collins won’t be suspended during investigation — Governor
Police Commissioner Mark Collins will not proceed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an inquiry into misconduct allegations against him, Governor John Rankin has revealed.
The governor said Collins will remain on the job while Cayman Islands Police Commissioner Kurt Walton reviews the over 50 allegations levelled against him by fellow police officers.
Collins was accused by dozens of officers of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) of unfair practices and abuse of power, among other things, resulting in a petition to the governor and UK officials that called for his removal from office.
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley and some critics have suggested that Collins should proceed on administrative leave, in the same fashion as other public servants who are under investigation, and should not be given any special treatment.
But the governor refuted the suggestion that there are double standards at play, arguing that a preliminary investigation must first be carried out to determine whether Collins is indeed culpable. He further explained that it would be completely unfair to suspend someone based on mere allegations.
“The procedure is, you don’t simply suspend someone because an allegation is made,” the governor explained. “You carry out an initial investigation and if that initial investigation finds that there are grounds for disciplinary action, then at that point you take a decision for suspension. But you don’t simply suspend someone for an initial allegation. You have an investigation and then take a decision on the matter.”
Governor Rankin also disputed the suggestion that the rank and file of the police force may not be as committed to the job, given the perceived lack of attention paid to the allegations against Collins.
The governor stated, “When complaints are made, I look at those complaints and the police commissioner himself recognised in these circumstances we should ask someone from an external force to deal with [the allegations].”
According to the governor, there’s no evidence of a lack of commitment on the part of police officers, however, he said he was hopeful this was not the case and pointed out that this was one of the reasons he requested an external independent review and investigation of the complaints that have been made.
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This is so wrong and high handed. The Governor is showing it is not about JUSTICE but JUST US in the BVI. He must be put on leave immediately until after a transparent independent investigation is completed.
So if your neighbor down the road accused you of littering
and you know that you didn’t litter.
but your neighbor don’t like you so he wants you to be fined.
would you like the police to fine you without an investigation?
just walk up and hit you a fine cuz johhny said so?
exactly yuh need evidence first. hard facts. to prove the allegations.
so no the TOP COP cannot be place on leave without an investigation first.
The public officers were put on leave because they were investigated and charged! so there’s paper and evidence backing that up!
lmaoooo noooo but if you sent an email telling somebody to pick up the litter that you threw down then turn back and tell said person to delete it, then we have a problem
The man in Cayman the Governor hand picked to do the sham of an investigation on Mark Collins is a close friend of Collins. This is nepotism at it’s best by the Governor. It is not transparent. A panel of persons from different ethnic backgrounds with the right qualifications should be doing this investigation. BVI PEOPLE WAKE UP! You are being hoodwinked.
because of skin color?
Racist!
HE IS GOING TO HINDER THE INVESTIGATIONS BECAUSE HE IS STILL ON THE JOB…….THIS GOVERNOR TAKE WE FOR ASSES IT SEEMS
Tell me if this is fair. Wasn’t the comptroller of customs sent on leave during an investigation of his department? If Mr. Collins is left on the job can he not tamper with evidence that he would have access to especially since the allegations against him is in relation to destroying of evidence in an active case? Can he not intimidate officer’s who may be involved in the investigation? If this is not bias then I don’t know what is.
It is the right thing to do. Would any of you like to be sent home on someone else word, without an investigation being carried out to prove you actually did wrong? You all are hypocrites.
this drama by investigating all the complaining officers conduct and their allegations. The COP is simply doing his enforcement job which results in dishonest complaints within the police force.
they just want to remove him so they can do what they want
That just shows the so-call investigation will be a sham.
Like the coi, the outcome is already written before the process even started.
Wh*tes will ALWAYS be treated differently from bl@cks under UK. ALWAYS.
Some of those police officers are not easy either. when they want you out of the way they will go to the extreme. Remember Super Cop’s matter?
I heard that a Police pulled a gun on a civilian for no reason and with witnesses around too, a report was made about that too and nothing happened except that the report cannot be found. They want Colin’s out of the way to carry on with their wrong doing. They all need to do their work and stop complaining. They complain like a bunch of children because they cannot get their way!
Opps! He is white, and of a superior logics than the natives, how can he ever be suspended, and a commissioner buddy been paid is a jackpot for that cayman commissioner who is either on retirement or heading there with a swollen bank account, he will deliver bouquet to John rankings for that money with a kiss.
If he is being investigated he should be put on leave like everyone else.
White is right.
The white people dem blogging and pressing dislike even though the comments make sense. He should be on leave period!
People on these sites so d**b! How could you suspend someone on hearsay. Plz think before you type nonsense.
Mr governor please let Mr Collins take where he at we ain’t minding the noise them wanted Mr Collins gone because whenever Mr Collins here these sso calll police can’t do whatever them feel like ,I wish uk just take over quick and fast
Wasn’t the custom head suspended?
It’s called white privilege.
Would be nice wouldn’t it if you could get rid of charges like say bringing sex workers into the country , or running a drug operation while taking the taxpayers money, or paying all your cronies with government money for doing nothing , or taking bribes, simply by accusing the COP who is after you.
Oops! My bad, the commissioner is of the white superior logics and should be over the natives and exculpate from faults.only the natives are wrong.
The reason given for Cop to stay on the job makes sense on the surface except that we haven’t seen that reasoning with the locals. Is the governor implying that they did the same procedure and then found evidence to suggest suspension of locals then made the investigations public?
Why was Mr.Willock investigated, Mr.Smith etc. Seems more transparency is needed and more explanations made so we can see consistency.
It’s obvious we are still reeling in recovery from colonial and slavery times, just by reading the comments, so there is much work to be done here as healing is needed for us to move fwd together.
SO WHY WAS WADE SMITH SENT HOME WITHOUT INVESTIGATION AND SUSPENSION?
Bear fu**ery in this BVI.