Court Upholds Police Officer’s Dismissal
The Court has upheld the Police Commissioner’s decision to dismiss Oswin Pereira, with the ruling noting his ”dishonesty was not only self-serving but continual.”
In January of last year, a police spokesperson had said, “On Monday the 20th of January, an independent panel determined that PC Pereira of the BPS had used unnecessary force during an arrest in May 2017.
“Furthermore, that he breached honesty and integrity demonstrating levels of pre meditated behaviours that brought discredit on the Bermuda Police Service which amounted to gross misconduct.
“The panel found PC Pereria’s actions fell well below the Standards of Professional Behaviour expected and had no option but to dismiss him from service without notice.”
The Court’s ruling, which was handed down this month, stated that in May 2017 PC Pereira and another officer were on duty on their police motorcycles and “had cause to pursue” Talundae Azariah Grant who attempted to flee, with Mr Grant eventually apprehended.
“During the course of that encounter, PC Pereira willfully and dishonestly turned off his body camera equipment,” the ruling said, with it also noting that he struck Mr Grant with a baton.
Mr. Grant, who was 17-years-old at the time of the incident, made a complaint to the Police Complaints Authority, prior to his death in an unrelated road traffic accident in July 2019.
“The PSC’s acceptance that PC Perreira wilfully and dishonesty turned off his body cam was implicit that they accepted that he did so to prevent access to any evidence of video footage of the events which transpired after he turned off the body cam,” the ruling said.
“Such conduct is the very antithesis of what is expected of a police officer preforming his duties honestly and with integrity. This conduct falls within the upper category of serious breaches.”
“PC Pereira’s dishonesty was not only self-serving but continual. The PSC did not disturb the Panel’s findings that PC Pereira was not only dishonest in willfully turning off his body camera on Saturday 13 May 2017 but also dishonest over two years later on or around 8 February 2019 when he provided an implausible account to the Panel of how his body cam was turned off.”
The full judgement follows below [PDF here]:
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