Chuck wants public officers to cover part of damages for their actions

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has said that public servants, including the police, who deliberately cause damage and injury to citizens and their properties while on the job should be made to cover at least part of the cost incurred by their actions.

Chuck said that a strong signal must be sent to persons who deliberately breach the law while carrying out their duties. "You cannot engage in misconduct and get away," Chuck declared yesterday at a post-Sectoral Debate press conference held at his ministry on Constant Spring Road in St Andrew.

Sending a strong signal to government workers, particularly members of the security forces, Chuck said, "We have to discharge our duties professionally because when you perform it unpro-fessionally and negligently, the burden is on the State even if we have to pay the larger percentage. The point is, it still amounts to a lot of money."

In his presentation to the Sectoral Debate in Parliament earlier this week, Chuck reported that for the first time in its history, the ministry had settled all judgment debts due at the end of the last financial year. Judgment debts, amounting to a little more than $1.3 billion, were disbursed to settle 303 matters. For the period April 1 to May 18, this year, the Government paid judgment debts for 56 matters, totalling more than $78 million.