Police prosecutors should be phased out in narcotics cases

Oct 01, 2012 News

Modernization of the DPP’s Chambers…

Retired Judge Claudette Singh has disclosed that the implementation of the “action plan”, which was aimed at modernizing the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecution and its operations as well as improving the interrelationships between the DPP Prosecutors and the Police Prosecutors, has come to an end.
Singh told Kaieteur News that the project has now added to the capacity of the Chambers in several operational areas with the availability of Procedures Manuals, in Human Resource Management, Financial Administration, Programme Budgeting.
She said that it also adds a new performance management system, an updated Organization Structure, a Strategic Plan, an HR Strategy and other management tools / mechanisms that once employed, will make a significant difference in the level of efficiency in this organization. Kaieteur News was told that the technical secretariat will be assisting the DPP regarding the way forward to ensuring the adaptation of these tools.
Singh explained that according to the justice reform project, it is not internationally the best practice that police should prosecute and investigate crimes at the same time. She said that presently the DPP relies heavily on police prosecutors for the prosecution of preliminary enquiries and summary offences in the Magistrates’ Court. The former judge said that it is the objective that police prosecutors should be phased out in the prosecution of narcotics and indictable matters.
Singh said that there was the observation of the consultants who are presently involved in the reorganization that the Chambers do not have the full quota of Prosecutors and until this problem is remedied it is being suggested that the DPP takes over the Police Prosecutors, so these Prosecutors would only function as Prosecutors proper and not in their core function as Investigators. Presently, there are three Police Prosecutors attached to the DPP’s Chambers. In Uganda, the phasing-out took years.
By the end of 2012, the Chambers of the DPP would be refurbished and computerized. She said that the chambers would be linked to Central Networking Brickdam to which all Police Stations in the country would be linked. This would facilitate the movement of files and information to the DPP’s Chambers, Singh stated.
Singh noted that the other important reform is to strengthen the capacity of both State Prosecutors and Police Prosecutors. She said that the introduction of the Early Case Assessment Pilot (E-CAP) during the Action Plan Implementation consultancy saw a satisfactory level of coaching of these prosecutors.
There is still a significant amount of capacity building that remains to be done. This, however, will involve more coaching and arrangements are in train to ensure that some of this is undertaken before the end of the project.
It was noted that the training in the assessment of cases regarding the reliability of the gathered evidence as well as mentorship by the consultants, is contributing to enhanced skills for both DPP and Police prosecutors. She said that it is expected that this would result in greater success in criminal cases prosecuted by the State.
The refurbishing of DPP’s Chambers, including the Prosecutors’ offices in Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo is at the implementation stage. The DPP Chambers have already removed to temporary quarters to facilitate the rehabilitation works. The refurbished offices are expected to accommodate an additional fifteen (15) officers at the Chambers as well as engendering greater confidentiality for the interviewing of witnesses.

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Police prosecutors should be phased out in narcotics cases

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