Cop caught smuggling cellphones and nails in prisoner’s food

A cop has been suspended and faces further disciplinary actions after he was allegedly caught taking food containing two cell phones to a prisoner in the lock-up at the Ocho Rios Police Station.

Reports are that the cop was suspended following a ruling from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that the matter be handled administratively by the police.

The cop was implicated on Sunday, November 22, on allegations that he tried to smuggle the cell phones to the prisoner. Reports indicated that a newly recruited police officer, following the rule book, saw the well-known cop who is his senior, taking the meal in to a prisoner at the lock-up, and stopped him. When searched, the phones and several nails were found in the meal.

Police procedures require that meals to be taken to prisoners from members of the public should be handed over to a guardroom officer, who should check it thoroughly. In this case, that process was reportedly bypassed.

Police sources linked the nails to possible use as weaponry or in jail-breaking attempts.

The accused cop was said to have been kept in custody while the DPP examined a file that was submitted on the matter. Police sources said senior officers from the constabulary’s headquarters have been drafted to participate in the departmental procedure to be undertaken in respect of the accused cop.

Superintendent Wayne Cameron confirmed that the cop was suspended without pay, and that a police tribunal is to be set up to further investigate the matter and determine the way forward.