Reverend Hoyt firmly stated that information shared with Police Officers, the breach of the law excluded, must be held in the strictest of confidence. Photo: VINO/File

Reverend Hoyt, who was the keynote at the conference, touched on the burning issue that has been plaguing the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIP) - confidentiality.

“Have police officers sworn to secrecy? In banking, one of the first things that we are asked to do is to protect the privacy of our clients to the extent that if a husband and wife bank at the same bank and he has an account whether it be a loan, credit card, savings or certificate of deposit etc which her name is not on, she cannot be given information on the account. In banking we are not permitted to view a person’s account without their permission and this is all in the interest of protecting the client’s right to confidentiality. If we are to violate a client’s trust by divulging their information we can forfeit our jobs. The same is true for me as an ordain Minister. When I see people in my office, whatever they say to me, breach of the law excluded, must be held in the strictest of confidence and if I were to divulge their confidential information, I can lose my credentials. I therefore humbly suggest that the same should be the case for Police Officers,” the former police officer said.

He appealed to persons who lack confidence in the hotline or in the police force to report the matter to their religious leaders.

“I would also like to suggest that the matter can be reported to the elected representative for your district or any of the at large representatives. I will even take it a little further by saying that it can be reported to Principals of schools, the President of the local college, Permanent secretaries, Heads of Departments etc. We cannot let persons who commit crime hold us hostage,” he charged.

In a December 2011 interview with this news agency, David Morris, the now acting Commissioner of Police, had pledged to get a grip on officers leaking information before even relatives were informed, as well as, to ensure the integrity of an investigation was maintained.

“When victims and witnesses report crime to us the last thing they expect is for it to appear on the news unofficially,” Morris explained. “Internally we have clamped down on the disciplined issues, making quite clear to officers that they are in breach of discipline and they can lose their jobs. In some cases of trust in public office they can be prosecuted for it...we are monitoring the situation.”

Morris had also pointed out that the Governor’s Speech from the Throne indicated that legislation will be introduced for Freedom of the Speech and Information Protection, which is similar to the Data Protection Act in the United Kingdom.

According to him, the Data Protection Act states that if an officer gives out information that is not authorised that officer could be penalised or jailed.