WESTERN BUREAU:

At least eight members of the St James police have been ordered by the Police Service Commission (PSC) to respond to allegations of involvement in the vibrant lottery scam, wherein they allegedly masterminded the "shake down" of scammers for money.

The PSC wants them to respond within two weeks or on the recommendation of the commissioner of police, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, take the option of retiring in the public interest.

The eight, who were all attached to the Mt Salem Police Station in Montego Bay, are part of a group of 18 men and women who were interdicted in what the Police High Command said was their alleged criminal and illegal activities in the parish. They were reportedly implicated by 'fake cop' Courtney Grayson, who the high command say was recruited by members of the force attached to the station.

Grounds for retirement

However, after investigations were done, five out of the 18 went back to work in June, while 10 were told to retire in the public interest.

Last Thursday, eight out of the 10 received letters from the PSC stating that it had agreed that "in accordance with the provision of Section 26 of the Police Service Regulation of 1961, setting out the grounds on which their retirement is contemplated, it is affording them the opportunity to respond to these grounds:

"Reports are that from October 7, 2008 to March 7, 2009, you were involved in lottery scam along with other police officers from the Mount Salem Police Station and a civilian who was posing as a police officer at the Mount Salem Police Station.

"Unsuspecting persons were contacted by members and made to believe they had won the lottery sweepstake and told they needed to pay a small percentage of their winnings for processing fee, via MoneyGram or Western Union.

"Persons were tasked by police officers to watch MoneyGram or Western Union outlets and give information to the said police officers about the scammers.

"When they arrived to collect their money, the police would shake them down. This involved soliciting money from the scammers in exchange for non-prosecution."

One of the policemen interdicted told The Gleaner that he found it strange that they had not been given a fair hearing and that although the director of public prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, has ruled that her office could find nothing to implicate them, sending the files back for the commissioner of police to deal with, the commissioner was still convinced that they should retire in the public interest.

Inspector implicated

The policeman said they have been tried en bloc and even the inspector who was in charge of the station has now been implicated.

"So we have been advised to get an appeals lawyer on our case and we will be doing just that on Monday morning."

They have also taken their complaints to the Jamaica Police Federation, whose president, Sergeant Raymond Wilson, told The Gleaner that his team was in the process of reviewing some of the dismissals that were taking place in the force.

Hinting at complaints he has been receiving from the membership, he gave examples of members who had been charged criminally, faced a court hearing, freed by that court, but later placed before the internal structure. He said that in the end, it has come to a point that the same evidence was used to dismiss that member.

The trend, he contends, is for person who have gone before the courts, especially under the Anti-corruption Act, even after being freed, to be recommended for retirement in the public's interest.

He also noted that when members are to be re-enlisted after five years, without having internal disciplinary issues, they are being given notice of an intention not to be re-engaged in the service.

"The police federation considers it a critical and important matter to the extent that we have put in place a legal team, of external and internal legal persons, to review what is happening."

The review will seek to determine whether or not due process is being followed and "where it is not followed we will be pursuing these matters; we will be taking it to the highest court".

The Gleaner was unable to contact the PSC for a response.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com