Nov 19 - Number Six Says GSD “Want To Control The Police And Direct Commissioner To Arrest Who They Want”
The Government has said that the latest statement from the GSD on fishing with nets is “utterly ridiculous and reflects the dangerous lack of understanding” by the Leader of the Opposition of the working of the Constitution in relation to law enforcement.
The enforcement of the law (other than laws which are safeguarded specifically by other agencies) is exclusively a matter for the RGP, says Number Six. Mr Feetham's repeated statements suggest he thinks the elected Government has some say in that, which is not the case, insists the Government.
The Government says it does not control the police and urges Mr Feetham that he “had better start to realise that or otherwise explain what contrary practice he was privy to when he was Minister for Justice with responsibility for upholding the law.”
The GSLP/Liberal Government says it has undone the “illegal and unconstitutional agreement” done by Mr Feetham's GSD whereby the GSD government allowed Spaniards to do illegal acts in Gibraltar waters, thereby “creating a real danger” to the legal recognition of BGTW.
The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, said: "It would be very dangerous indeed for Gibraltar to have a Chief Minister able to direct the Commissioner of Police to arrest people. I do not have nor seek that power, but that is what Mr Feetham is advocating should happen if he were Chief Minister. Mr Feetham pretends that Spanish fishermen who fish with nets today should be arrested at his political direction, although, ironically, his party did and defended an agreement to allow them to fish against the law whilst Gibraltarians were prosecuted under the same law. The illogical nature of Mr Feetham's criticism is not lost on anyone, nor is the dangerous type of Government he proposes, where the Chief Minister would be able to direct the Commissioner of Police's actions."
