No reimbursement without approval, Chuck warns JPs
Perrin objects to any collection to offset expenses
Published:Tuesday | April 5, 2022 | 12:09 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
While Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has expressed that he would not necessarily be opposed to justices of the peace (JPs) being reimbursed for travelling expenses to certify documents for pensioners, the infirm or others who are not able to visit them, Westmoreland Custos Hartley Perrin has slammed shut the door, warning that it could open a floodgate to corruption.
By law, JPs are prohibited from charging for their services.
Among other things, the 2018 Justice of the Peace Act increased the geographical jurisdiction of JPs.
Responding to questions from members of the newly formed Westmoreland Parish Association of Justices of the Peace on whether it was permissible to accept reimbursement for their transportation costs from persons outside of their immediate communities, Chuck urged the JPs to tread cautiously.
“It is a question that has been asked many times, and to be frank with you, I can’t give a good answer and it’s a very good question,” Chuck said during a meeting in Savanna-la-Mar. “I can understand if a person says, ‘I will pay your taxi fare or pay your gas money to come and witness [that] I know you’, but what I don’t want is for a JP to demand payment for service,” Chuck said.
He added that any acceptance of cash to cushion expenses must be discussed openly with the custodes and the executive committee of their parish association before it is done because the custodes will take action if it is not approved and they discover they are charging the public.
He encouraged the JPs to also become restorative justice facilitators and mediators, from which they can be compensated.
“I appreciate that in the rural areas, you do have pensioners that you have to sign their papers to say they are alive for them to continue their pension, and many of them really can’t come to you, you have to go to them. I won’t disagree; it is challenging,” Chuck said.
“Quite frankly, I am aware that many JPs do have financial challenges, and, therefore, paying to travel is challenging, so you have to be careful that you don’t say you are charging as against your expenses,” he added.
Yesterday, Perrin dismissed the idea, arguing that if JPs are allowed to accept any form of payment for their services, it will open the door to wide-scale corruption.
“No, not at all. This is not something I would embrace or support,” he told The Gleaner. “It is clear in the act and by practice that JPs do not charge for their services. It’s a voluntary undertaking that they have taken on to themselves to serve the public in this way.”
He suggested that those who cannot travel should ask a friend or relative to see the JP on their behalf.
“ ... The JP will accept, understanding the situation,” Perrin said.
He noted that with more than 400 JPs in the parish, all communities in Westmoreland have at least two JPs and that he was moving to increase the numbers and reduce the need for persons to have to leave their community in search of a JP.