Concerned Citizen Advocates for Police Commissioner’s Removal, Urging Independent Investigation

British Virgin Islands Governor John Rankin has received a letter from a concerned citizen for the removal of Police Commissioner Mark Collins to facilitate an impartial and independent investigation into serious allegations, including the tampering of evidence, against the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF).

The November 2 letter, penned by the concerned citizen stated that “concerns were initially raised in 2023 when allegations were made of an email from the office of the Commissioner of Police of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) which was sent to St. Clair Amory, O’Neal Bakker and Cc: to Jacquelyn Vanterpool circulating within the Virgin Islands and the international world. As it relates to a discussion surrounding the arrest and charge of a police officer the matter was discussed by the Commissioner of Police with the DPP and stated that: “The matter has been discontinued by the DPP”. The Commissioner gave certain instructions and various decisions were made by the Commissioner of Police for the evidence to be destroyed and should the video footage be released in the public domain there will be a PSD investigation.”

The leaked email not only raised questions about the internal workings of the RVIPF but also created a public relations crisis. Commissioner Collins when questioned about the email during a recent press conference did not deny its authenticity.

This raised further concerns about the credibility of the RVIPF and its leadership. The concerned citizen points to several other key issues, including the discrepancies in the treatment of officers and joint criminal conspiracy.

“Allegations are made against subordinate Police officers for committing disciplinary or criminal offences and they are being interdicted and removed from office by the Commissioner of Police, during which period of interdiction an investigation is being conducted, and if there is sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation, then criminal charges will be brought against the officers.”

The correspondence added: “Similarly, the same principle applied to those officers should apply to the Commissioner of Police and those other gazetted officers whose names were mentioned in the email and the office of the DPP, in accordance with equality before the law; they should be afforded the same opportunity to face justice under the criminal justice system.”

The letter stressed that the Commissioner of Police does not possess any legal authority to eliminate evidence in criminal proceedings, as there is no statutory law granting such power.

“There is no statutory law authorising the Commissioner of Police to destroy any evidence in criminal proceedings. The Commissioner has no statutory authority to give instructions to any subordinate Police officers as to the destruction of evidence in any criminal or disciplinary proceedings. Therefore, evidence can only be destroyed by an order made by a court of law.”

“For those very same reasons stated I am of the opinion and have been supported by the statutory law that the Commissioner of Police should be interdicted or removed from office to have a fair and transparent investigation into this matter.”

“I am quite confident that this is not what you want from members of His Majesty’s Royal Virgin Police Force. So I am calling on you to conduct an investigation into the allegations independent of the Commissioner Mr Mark Collin, Deputy Commissioner Mr. St. Clair Amory and Ms. Jacquelyn Vanterpool.”

Collins attended the press conference on Thursday, October 12, 2023, initiated by Governor John J. Rankin, CMG, and Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley (R7). During the conference, Collins asserted that the situation was deemed “an internal matter” by the authorities, emphasizing that he had “nothing to hide.” He clarified that the issue revolved around a conflict between two officers and a leaked email he was aware of.

“I will be very clear; it was not evidence related to a particular case. It was between two individual officers, one who threatened to release something about another officer, and I told him not to do it and if he did do it there would be an investigation.”