ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) – The main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) yesterday called on Prime Minister Gaston Browne to order a probe to determine how a police officer was able to leave the country ahead of an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct involving a minor.

The party’s Deputy Leader Dr Jacqui Quinn is also calling on the chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Kelvin John, to ensure there is a probe into the allegation.

She said she also wants Commissioner of Police Wendel Robinson to be suspended “forthwith while the investigation is ensuing”.

“We are also calling on the Police Commissioner of St Vincent and the Grenadines Renold Hadaway, if he has not done so already, to act swiftly in capturing this officer and return him to the state of Antigua and Barbuda,” Quinn told a news conference.

Media reports here quoted Hadaway as saying that he had received an arrest warrant for a member of the Royal Police Force of Antigua & Barbuda (RPFAB) facing allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor.

“I have a document before me that I just received from the Antigua & Barbuda Commissioner and that’s all I’m willing to say,” he told the Observer newspaper.

Quinn said the UPP was calling on Robinson “to voluntarily step down while this investigation is ongoing”.

She told reporters that in 2014, former police commissioner Vere Browne was suspended for not publishing the list of promotions among other allegations.

“We sincerely and respectfully proffer that this saga is adversely impacting the discipline and morale in the police force,’ she said, adding “the morale of our police officers will be lowered, confidence in the criminal justice system will be further downgraded and undermined and confidence in our judiciary will be totally decimated”.

She said the present situation “goes to the very core of justice and the perception of justice being fair and impartial”.

“We therefore reiterate the UPP’s call on Kelvin John, chair of the Police Service Commission to help restore confidence in our police force and the criminal justice system”.

Media reports here said that the police officer in question is a foreign national.