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Imported Police Undermined

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The Associated Press

Published: October 4, 2008

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A lawsuit filed by Antigua's ousted police commissioner shows it's not always a tropical idyll when a veteran officer from Britain or Canada chooses to spend the twilight of his career working in the Caribbean.

A retired member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Gary Nelson is suing the Caribbean government that recruited him, accusing Antigua and Barbuda of political interference amid a high-profile double murder case.

Across the English-speaking Caribbean, other officers enlisted to help fight a wave of violence describe being confronted with high-profile cases, a lack of resources and island politics.

"It sounds wonderful and interesting to be in the Caribbean and be commissioner, but I never would have accepted this position if I had known what the government is like," Nelson said from Ottawa.

Nelson said the government refused to give him authority he needed to modernize the police force. He was dismissed after two British honeymooners were shot dead - a crime that threatened the tourist industry.

Antigua Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said last month that Nelson was fired because of "unsatisfactory" performance but did not provide details. Government spokesman Maurice Merchant declined to comment further.

Nelson said Antigua and Barbuda hired him to only give the impression the twin-island government was tackling its soaring crime rate.

In St. Lucia, Police Commissioner John Broughton - a Briton - had to go to court Thursday to face a police superintendent who alleges Broughton intimidated him.

Shortly after Broughton's appointment in 2006, vandals broke into his office, poured water over his computer and left a note with a crude drawing of a gun saying "Broughton will never be Commissioner."

The local police union is demanding his resignation over complaints about his leadership style.

In Jamaica, former Scotland Yard detective Mark Shields was brought in to curtail a sky-high homicide rate in 2005 and is struggling to gain support for initiatives such as standardized police reports. With homicides continuing virtually unabated, Shields said he cannot waste time on political feuds.

STORMS' TOLL HITS 793 IN HAITI

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The official death toll from four storms that ravaged Haiti this summer has nearly doubled to some 800 people, authorities said Friday.

Civil defense director Maria-Alta Jean Baptiste said that 793 bodies have been found so far. The four tropical storms that struck in late August and early September also wiped out at least 60 percent of Haitian agriculture and destroyed roads, bridges and homes.

The Associated Press

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