Former Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF), Bertie Hinds.
FORMER Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF), Bertie Hinds, maintained yesterday that a request for an independent assessment to be made following the August 2004 shooting of Constable Dexter Yarde was denied by the then Attorney General (AG) and Prime Minister.
It was just over 19 years ago that Constable Richard Garrett and Constable Dexter Yarde were responding to a burglary in St. James when the officers faced a hail of bullets after cornering the perpetrator. Constable Yarde was shot and killed. It was concluded that the officer was killed in “friendly fire”. During a press conference held by the RBPF, Garrett was implicated as the shooter and subsequently sued the top brass of the RBPF and the Attorney General for defamation of character. Constable Garrett was recently cleared after judgement was handed down in his favour, clearing his name of the shooting death of his police partner after nearly two decades.
Yesterday, the former Deputy Commissioner broke his silence on the matter, stating that an independent assessment was requested, but it was shot down.
Hinds’ statement
His statement read as follows: “As acting Commissioner of Police, in the absence of Commissioner Dottin who was on duty leave in the United Kingdom, I arrived at the scene at Vauxhall Road, St. James, and was briefed by the investigators as to the prevailing circumstances. Inspector John Annel was the forensic expert managing that aspect of the investigation. He briefed me as to the happenings up to that point. He opined that Yarde might have been shot by ‘friendly fire’, meaning a police firearm.
“As procedure and protocol would dictate, I telephoned Attorney General Dale Marshall (AG) and gave him the preliminary findings as reported to me by Inspector Annel and the others managing the investigations. I told the AG that I could not live down this in the Force if I did not get an independent assessment; that I would be contacting the Metro-Dade County Police in Miami in respect. The AG told me that he has to brief the Prime Minister (Owen Arthur) and he will get back to me.” The AG allegedly telephoned Hinds a few minutes later, informing him that he was advised not to allow the assessment. “I restated my previous position; that I could not live down this in the Force if I did not get an independent assessment.”
“Feeling constrained in my professional and necessary approach to the matter and juxtaposed with the need to inform the public as to the preliminary circumstances surrounding Yarde’s death, I reluctantly made the public statement in keeping with the forensic advice of Inspector Annel. It is ironic that I, having been denied expending monies on an independent assessment, the substantive Commissioner Dottin was able to effect an independent assessment by the very Metro-Dade Country forensic facility.
“Apart from my professional judgement that it was incumbent on me to get an independent forensic assessment, I did not know the personal relationship between Annel and Garrett... Not that I in any way doubted Annel’s competency and efficacy, but I wanted to ensure that I covered all possibilities from my executive position,” he stated.