Commissioner of Police Verne Garde on Thursday neither confirmed nor denied reports that a senior government official had been arrested.
The issue was raised during a police press briefing when St Lucia Times sought clarification on reports circulating that the official had been taken into police custody.
Rather than directly addressing the question, Garde stressed that the law is applied equally to everyone, regardless of their position in society.
“I will say that justice in this country is per individual. There is no tier in regards to justice. Justice is for the rich, it’s for the middle class, and it’s for the poor. At some times we may have persons in all the spectrums in conflict with the law…. So I say that to try to answer the question that when law enforcement is doing their work, we don’t look at any particular criteria to execute our law enforcement duties. It’s just a regular requirement for law enforcement officers. As long as you infringe this benchmark, we’re going to do what we have to do. Okay. I hope that answers the question,” he said.
When pressed for a direct answer by St Lucia Times, Garde again did not directly confirm or deny the reports.
Instead, he urged caution in reporting on certain criminal matters.
“I’ve warned the media that we have to be very cautious in how we report matters,” the police commissioner said. “I think I did quote a particular section of the criminal code that requires us to be very cautious when we are dealing with specific index crimes. So I will not endeavour to give any more information in regards to that particular event, okay?”
The commissioner did not provide any further details.
