Police Board meeting being held behind closed doors

The independent Police Board this afternoon started its hearings into how a man was mistakenly arraigned and accused of a hold-up earlier this week after miscommunication within the police. The meeting was closed to the press and the public, even though earlier a government statement had indicated it would be open for reporters. Judge Franco Depasquale, chairman of the board, said before the meeting that the law prevented him from allowing the proceedings to be held in public and the final report would only be passed on to the Police Commissioner and the Home Affairs Minister. "It is up to them if they want to publish the report," he said, adding the law tied his hands. He said he expected this to be a straight forward case and the investigation should not take more than a few weeks. The urgency of the case, he said, was its very unique nature of having a person wrongly charged. He insisted the Police Board was independent of the police and the Government. Judge Depasquale said this was the first ever meeting of the current board and it was held at the Home Affairs Ministry because the new members did not know where it normally met. The judge is the only veteran, having been in...