On Friday the Ministry of National Security released the report of the Special Inquiry Team appointed to investigate the Department’s handling of the Christopher Galvez murder investigation.  The 18 page report was compiled in nine weeks after 51 interviews were conducted by the three member Commission headed by Chairman, Deputy National Security Coordinator, Oliver Del Cid, along with Assistant Superintendent of Police Marlon Allen and, Jennifer Saldivar-Ramirez, the Administrative Officer in the Ministry of National Security. 

The report found irregularities and breach of Police Department Standing Orders in the murder investigation but concluded that, “there is no evidence of professional

But the three member inquiry found numerous instances in which standing orders were breached and other instances in which the behaviour of the officers who first responded to the crime was odd and bordering on negligent.  That was the case when the first officer who arrived on the scene failed to render aid to a dying Chris Galvez.  The Commission described it as regrettable and found it to be contrary to the Department’s standing orders.  It concludes that “it appears that the officers who arrived at the scene simply could not recall what they were supposed to do in cases of a medical emergency and were unsure of their ability to render effective first aid for fear of worsening the situation.” 

The Commission also found the decision of Andre Aguilar, who was with Christopher Galvez when he was killed, to remove his license plate as bizarre.  The team was unable to determine if anyone gave Aguilar permission to remove the license plates.  More concerning was that, “Andre Aguilar’s detention and release were not properly logged in the station diary and the CIB Register at the Queen’s Street Police Station.”  The report laments that, “the failure of the various police to keep precise records made it difficult for the department to give a clear answer to the question of Aguilar’s time of release…it therefore allowed for speculation that Aguilar may have been secretly released much earlier.” 

There was then the question of the Police Corporal fingered in the murder investigation who visited the Galvez family’s house two days after Chris Galvez’s murder and allegedly threatened the Galvez family with a gun.  After speaking to 13 witnesses, the inquiry team says that 11 of them say that the police officer did pull out his firearm while leaving the premises. 

The conclusions were presented to Minister of National Security Carlos Perdomo who says the intention of the report wasn’t to find who killed Christopher Galvez but rather to investigate the police’s handling of the investigation.  Minister Perdomo says the report will be forwarded to the desk of Commissioner of Police Crispin Jeffries for action on any disciplinary charges for breach of the standing orders. 

The inquiry team was appointed at the insistence of the Galvez family which have been outspoken since the death of their son and nephew on December 21, 2009 at a boatyard on the Western Highway.  The family says a police officer was involved, but neither the Police nor DPP have found sufficient evidence to lay charges. 

At a press conference held Friday afternoon after the report was released, Christopher Galvez’s father Martin Galvez and his aunt Yolanda Schakron rejected the report.  Galvez says, “I am definitely not satisfied with this report.  It is my son who was murdered, executed for no reason at all.”