KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent A human-rights watchdog group in St. Vincent and the Grenadines accused the Caribbean island chain's police commanders Monday of failing to hold officers accountable for alleged brutality.
Nicole Sylvester, leader of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Human Rights Association, said her group has received more than 30 allegations of police abuse in recent months, backed up by photographs and medical reports.
Under a so-called blue code, officers lie or keep silent about misconduct to protect each other from outside criticism, she added.
"We are not going to continue with this code of silence," Sylvester said. "The uniform is a cloak for abuse, oppression and highhandedness by the police."
Police commanders and a government spokesman did not immediately return calls for comment. But assistant police commissioner Ekron Lockhart said in a recent radio interview that the department thoroughly investigates claims of wrongdoing.
"As long as the evidence comes forth, we are going to deal with those police," Lockhart said.
The government of this Caribbean nation of 105,000, a shipment point for South American cocaine destined for the U.S. and Europe, has come under pressure to reduce rising violent crime.
Complaints of brutality have risen this year, however, prompting Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and police top brass to publicly pronounce that they will not tolerate misconduct.
Allegations of police misconduct only gained traction last week when officers fatally shot three fugitives, including a 29-year-old Barbadian wanted on homicide charges.
Opposition leader Arnhim Eustace has called for an independent panel to determine if officers from the Regional Security System, a cooperative of police forces across the Eastern Caribbean, used excessive force.
St. Vincent police say the officers were justified because the suspects shot at them from their car after being confronted in the village of Vermont, near the capital, Kingstown.
Some villagers who claim to have witnessed the shootout say police opened fire without provocation.