Police apologise after publishing wrong man's photo in criminal charge release

BASSETERRE, St Kitts. The Royal St Christopher and Nevis Police Force has issued a public apology after it published the photograph of a man with no link to a criminal case alongside a release about charges against someone else.

The error appeared in a press release dated 16 October on the force's website. In a statement on Wednesday, the police said the man had not been investigated, charged or otherwise implicated in any offence covered by that release.

"The Police Force accepts full responsibility for this error," the force said.

Similar names blamed

An internal review found the mistake was made during the identification process because the man's name closely resembles that of the accused in an unrelated matter, according to the police.

The force said it removed the original release from its website once it became aware of the problem and asked Google to take the link out of its search index. It offered what it called an unequivocal and unreserved apology to the man and his family.

Questions remain

The apology came 26 days after the original release was published. The police did not say when they first learned of the error, how long the photograph remained online, or whether any officer would face disciplinary action. No officer was named in the statement.

The force said it has strengthened its procedures for retrieving and verifying photographs, adding extra checks and a rule that images will be withheld whenever identifying details are similar, inconsistent, incomplete or uncertain.

It also asked anyone who shared or republished the wrong photograph to remove it and to give the correction equal prominence.