The Justice of the Peace Association (Jopatt) is suggesting a novel but simple way to reduce the backlog of cases in the magistrates courts in the country. The association's newly elected president, Arneaud De Gannes, wants to have JPs appointed to adjudicate in minor cases such as traffic and other petty offences.
A petty contractor/taxi driver, De Gannes is also calling for urgent action to prevent some of his colleagues from accepting what is tantamount to taking bribes in the execution of their services and an increase in their monthly $1,000 stipend.
Mr De Gannes, can you give an idea of some of the racket JPs engage in?
(At Raphael's home on Thursday morning) Well, as far as I am aware, some are involved in taking bail and charging for doing that...a no-no. When you are sworn in as a justice of the peace your JP handbook tells you point blank that it is a voluntary position. So that those who are taking money illegally are creating problems for those who are willing to do the job genuinely.
You are saying point blank that people are not supposed to be charged a fee for the services of a JP?
Yes. But if they wish to give us something for our services they could do so. We get a stipend of $1,000 a month from the State.
Mr De Gannes, how does your association intend to deal with this particular problem and how widespread is it?
I cannot give you a total figure. If you go by the prisons, most of the time you have JPs touting their services, and they are not supposed to be by the prisons in pursuit of this illegal practice.
Why do you think the authorities at the prisons are allowing them to carry on this foolishness, on their doorsteps, as it were?
As you know, the country is being run on a kind of 50-50 basis; there are people upstairs who have you doing certain things to get a cut-back. So all we could do is to discuss it with the relevant people and hope that some sort of action would be taken to come to grips with this untenable situation.
One of the ways in which we could tackle this problem is that before JPs are appointed the State should consult people in their respective districts to get some idea of their personal character. You cannot appoint a JP just so.
How does one qualify to be a justice of the peace?
In my case I wrote an application to the Ministry of the Attorney General. They call you for an interview, they scrutinise you and they send people to investigate you before you are selected. But there are some people who were not put through that process. It took me six years before I was appointed.
Are there set criteria for the selection of a JP?
Well, basically you must be in good health, must be able to read and write in order to communicate with others, have a clean criminal record and, I understand, a Police Special Branch member would also do some kind of investigation into prospective JPs.
What I am looking at is, yes, they do some investigation, but if they communicate with the JPs who live in the respective districts, you may get a better feedback, because there are certain things that we will know about those wishing to become JPs.
I don't think it is generally known-I certainly was not aware-that JPs are not supposed to collect a fee from the public. And what kind of serious steps has Jopatt taken or is it taking to stamp out this practice?
As far as I am aware there were discussions with the JPs, but you don't know who is who in this context, and you keep hearing that the JP is taking money from the people who are reluctant to say exactly who these JPs are. And when this allegation gets out in the news media, unfortunately the entire body of JPs is looked upon with scepticism, which is not fair to those who are playing strictly by the rules and regulations as contained in the handbook.
My take on this is that the authorities must sensitise the public via the news media, both electronic and print, and once the public is aware of what we do and what are our roles and responsibilities, then the public would know whether they should be charged for the services of a JP.
Mr De Gannes, is it a fact that JPs are a law unto themselves?
Well, we are guided by the Office of the Attorney General and all JPs are given a handbook showing us how to conduct our affairs, but some of us operate outside the scope of those guidelines.
Taking bribes...?
Well, 90 per cent of it...I will call it that. We are not supposed to charge a fee and what I would tell people, they should ask the JP to give them a receipt, but they do not give a person any receipt, because only then you will be able to know for certain about illegal payments to a JP.
Some of them even charge a fixed percentage based on the amount of bail granted by magistrates?
Yes. Some say the bailor needs ten per cent and there are professional bailors aligned with some of the JPs and some of them do not have proper documents. JPs are allowed to grant bail but not for all offences. Only summary offences.
Are you aware, Mr De Gannes, of any JPs being fired for dishonest practices like asking for fees?
Perhaps that happened in the past, but since I have taken over Jopatt I have heard of no such instances.
I understand the association is taking steps to improve the operations of JPs. What are some of your main concerns?
It seems strange that whenever we make proposals for improving our lot, the incumbent AG is changed, which means we have to renew the entire process with the incoming attorney general. At this time a transformation team-which is spearheaded by an attorney in the office of the Attorney General, along with other stakeholders-has been set up.
Basically, what are the duties of a justice of the peace?
Off-hand they take statements, do ID parades, affidavits, assist senior citizens in preparing certain documents, assist probation officers and so on.
We have made a recommendation to the present AG to have the association represented on the screening committee for the selection of JPs, and also to have new JPs assigned to the association for a period of time, to guide them in the execution of their duties. Because they are new they are liable to make mistakes and when this occurs all JPs are tarnished.
I understand that these are some of the things the transformation committee is looking into and it is our hope that they do so as a matter of urgency.
Mr De Gannes, do you think the JPs are being given the kind of respect you think you should be receiving from the authorities?
At present I have records which show we have a membership of 119 in Jopatt and there are JPs being sworn in and we don't have a clue. So most likely there may be more than what we have on our books. And if I may touch a little on Tobago, there are just about four or five of us to serve the entire island, which is not an ideal situation. That figure should be doubled.
Mr De Gannes, JPs are a part of the justice system in Trinidad and Tobago and there are still repeated complaints about how long it takes for justice to be delivered. What role do you see JPs playing in fast-tracking the delivery of justice?
Simple. We had discussions with the authorities on the question of appointing JPs to adjudicate in minor offences, because there are too many summary offences pending, as the magistracy cannot dispense justice in these matters in a timely manner. You just go to any magistrate court on any day and you are bound to hear cases being called and adjourned because their lists are really too lengthy.
Are you speaking about using you all as lay magistrates, as is done in certain foreign countries?
Exactly. You appoint a few JPs to sit on these simple matters.?And remember, you already have jurors sitting on cases, who are not lawyers and who determine the fate of their peers. If we are appointed to adjudicate in some minor offences, you will certainly get rid of the backlog in quick time.
And let me tell you...in our handbook we are classified as that, you know-lay magistrates... And we have the authority to grant bail just like the magistrates have the right to do so. We could handle matters like breathalyser cases, other minor traffic offences and illegal drug matters where the quantity is very small.
Do you think a defendant would take kindly to untrained people like JPs adjudicating on their matters?
Why not? We grant them bail and even though we are not trained as lawyers we certainly have the experience to know right from wrong and we can get crash courses from the Office of the Attorney General.