ComPol to Customs Comptroller: “It’s nothing personal!”

The charge against Dion Castillo prompted strong words from the Comptroller Griffith.  He also alleged that the police objected to bail on Wednesday.  Today, Commissioner Chester Williams responded to those allegations, saying that there is nothing personal against the Customs Department and that the department was acting in accordance with the law.

On the Phone: Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“Now the comptroller also said that we had objected to bail. Man, I don’t see why we would object to bail for these officers. They may have made a mistake and had a misjudgment and applied the law as they should have but there is nothing personal against them. When these men went to court, the prosecutor called me and asked if the offence is one that is bailable and I said yes it is bailable. So, on that basis the prosecutor didn’t object to bail.    And again to have said that we were treating the customs officer and immigration officer as border jumper, you would know that the regulation that treats persons as border jumpers is in relation to contrabandits, not in relation to persons as in their case and that regulation just came enforced which is regulation 119 of 2020 and was not enforced when the AJ Ellis had gone to Honduras.    I just want the record to reflect clearly for me that the issue with this AJ Ellis and the public officers is not something personal. Many times customs have arrested police officers for contraband and we don’t interfere because if the police break the law, they break the law. And we don’t take this personal against customs – they are doing their job. I would want the comptroller to see this in the same light that this is nothing personal.”