MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Against the backdrop of two justices of the peace (JPs) being decommissioned for charging for their services, Custos of Manchester Garfield Green has reiterated his call for those caught breaching the rules in this way to face strong sanctions.

“I would say tough sanctions, yes, because there are many reports, not just in Manchester. I have heard of many reports in other parishes where JPs are charging for their services.

“They have become emboldened, because of something. I don’t know what it is or they think that the teeth is not sharp enough that is after them. I don’t know, but persons see it fit and they want to take the chance to charge regardless of the warning they get from the ministry. Our minister [Delroy Chuck] has warned the justices of the peace several times and they have been warned also in their training exercises, ‘do not charge, it is wrong’, but yet some of them still do it,” added Green who was among business and civic leaders at a function at Candle in the Dark Empowerment Centre in Mandeville on Wednesday. He said the practice of JPs charging for their services damages the reputation of the role.

“It is really bringing the office into disrepute and we need to put a stop to it, it is not right,” declared Green. “They do it in some public spaces. The challenge that I have when it is not a criminal offence, it is difficult to get the police involved whereas if it was a criminal offence, they would readily set-up their operations and catch people and take the necessary actions,” added Green.

The custos had earlier announced that a former high school teacher and a businessman have been decommissioned as justices of the peace (JPs) in Manchester after being accused of charging fees for the voluntary service.

Green said the two men were taken before an ethics committee in recent weeks, following two years of accusations against them.

“Section 15 of the JP Act speaks of offering JP services free of charge to the community members, and it is totally forbidden for JPs to be charging for services. I have received numerous complaints over the past two years about the same two people, who I had warned because we never had hard evidence. I had warned both of them,” said Green as he accused the two JPs, who are 44 and 46 years old, of arranging their services as a business venture.

“It seems as if people set it up as a business, and they use the opportunity to charge people — people who they can easily influence to pay, people who they think can pay without questioning. There are instances where recommendations were written for persons who they did not know,” added Green who also questioned the rationale behind the suggestion for JPs to be paid a stipend. “I have heard it and I would say it would be absolutely difficult to manage. On what basis would the stipend by provided?” Green asked while responding to questions from journalists on Wednesday in Mandeville. Green charged that some JPs are inactive.

“Quite honestly, there are so many of our justices of the peace who once they are commissioned they disappear, they are gone. We don’t know them, we don’t know where they are, and would it be fair to give them a stipend? No, I don’t think so,” added Green. Manchester has just over 400 commissioned JPs but Green argued that some are not committed to the role.

“Some of them use it as a status thing to say I am a justice of the peace in the community and they put it on their resume and it looks good, but are they really serving? No, they are not and it is a shame that we have these persons who are carrying the title justice of the peace and are not serving,” he said while pointing to circumstances where a stipend could be considered.

“I would not sanction or agree to paying a stipend, if we want to pay a stipend for specific services, fine. They could look into that. You want to say those who serve as lay magistrates. Those who serve in some specific area that you can easily account for them, fine, but on a broad scale to say give JPs a stipend, no,” added Green.