It is the Government’s intention to pass the Police Act 2023 in future, but not without dramatic changes to the contents of the Bill.
According to Premier Dr the Honourable Natalio Wheatley, the postponement of debates on the Bill will allow for “more time to consult, discuss and prepare the necessary amendments to be considered by the House of Assembly and the public.”
“We convened an informal meeting of the House of Assembly and we communicated with top officials of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force and communicated that under no circumstances would this bill be passed without amendments to the areas that have caused such grave concern to the members of the house and the public at large”, he said.
“ I want to make it clear to the members of the public that there is no intention by any member of this House of Assembly to pass this bill in its current form. We recognize a number of areas that are clearly problematic. Members of the House of Assembly have engaged the Bar Association, individual lawyers, concerned citizens and a number of others and the concerns have been consistent”, he added.
Whealtey spoke during a special sitting of the House of Assembly on Friday February 10th. This sitting was originally scheduled with the intention of debating the Bill.
A change of tides came following a meeting with stakeholders the previous day.
The Bill has been widely criticised by members of the public. Residents questioned the draconian powers the Bill granted to the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, the threat of an invasion of Virgin Islander’s privacy and the apparent rush of the Government to pass the bill.
There has also been criticism surrounding what members of the public view as a low level of consultation made on such an impactful piece of legislation.
In acknowledging these concerns, Wheatley had this to say:
“ I personally was involved in consultations on the Police Act in Virgin Gorda, Anegada, Jost Van Dyke and all throughout Tortola. As a result of the feedback we received last year we proposed a number of amendments to the bill. In addition to the proposed amendments based on public consultation a number of additional amendments were made to the bill that the public did not request and the public were not privy to”, he said.
“Obviously Madam Speaker, the bill was not passed by the 3rd House of Assembly, and it was again introduced in the 4th House of Assembly. It was introduced a number of times but not passed. It has been in the public sphere for literally years. There has been significant time spent, significant edits and criticisms which include public concerns”, he added.
Wheatley said that it is intended that areas of concern within the Bill will be removed during the Committee Stage.