A cry to help our police officers

...give them the tools to do their work

CoP GARY GRIFFITH

I wish to recommend the national viewing of the Parliament Channel on Thursday last to all citizens of this beautiful country so that we could understand the challenges faced by some of our leaders who are straining every nerve, every sinew of their body, to leave a legacy for our children and their children to follow.

This channel provided for me a revelation relating to the crime issues in Trinidad and Tobago and prefaced in bold relief the reasons why as much as our current Commissioner tries, we cannot get a hold of the deviance that has been plaguing us for the past two decades. Their programming provided me with a panoramic view of why the image of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service takes a beating week after week because the people who ought to provide the resources needed to create an efficient Police Service seem to have adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards development within the service, an attitude which is seeping through the various layers within the organisation.

Commissioner’s immediate response

Attempts at creating change are taking place. For instance, I was pleasantly surprised at the immediate response of the Commissioner of Police with regard to his intervention relating to the indiscriminate driving of his officers that resulted in two road deaths that angered the national community. Since his appointment, he has shown a type of resolve antithetical to his predecessor, because just a few months ago when the then incumbent in the Chair was acting, the response would have been muted, allegations of a cover up would have been circulating across social media and no definitive action would have been expected from the Office of the Commissioner because at the end of the day the feeling was that no one cared.

Prior to the appointment of the current Commissioner, police accidents were not even reported, victims of police indiscretions would wait years for their vehicles to be fixed. Today at least an attempt is now being made to flatten the playing field. However after listening to the Parliament Channel, one is beginning to wonder why no help is forthcoming from the people we voted to govern us. There is a paradigmatic shift within the service. Rogue officers are being arrested and brought before the courts and are being called upon to give an account of their stewardship.

Just last week an Inspector and a Corporal were charged for abduction and rape, and while many incidents of this nature would have disappeared as flies would have gone missing, under this new dispensation, we are seeing a change. Discipline in the service before was compromised; officers on serious disciplinary charges would migrate for three and four years working overseas while on full salary with no actual date set for them to respond to their charges. But today that is no more. So why isn’t the Government putting their best foot forward to support the police and address the crime situation.

Government is not paying the Police bills

When one hears that the Government is not paying bills on a timely basis for the TTPS then we know that service providers could hold our country to ransom if they should join together and make a run on Gary Griffith and his boys to collect their money. The TTPS has not paid their electricity bill for one year. Outstanding bills for repairs to police vehicles have not been paid. Police vehicles are parked up because service providers are no longer trusting the Government to be loyal to their commitment to honor their debt and very soon the Police Service may be rendered immobile as money to pay for fuel is not forthcoming. This debilitating situation cannot repose any confidence in a service that is striving for excellence to continue in its thrust in the fight against crime. I myself have visited some police stations and have become a contributor to the deficit created by the lack of financial management on the part of the State. Every police station should be provided with at least a printer and a copier, but this is not the case. Stationery and supplies are generally too low and too slow in coming. Basic amenities are absent and there are buildings which are rented by the police where the landlord is threatening to embarrass the Police Service by evicting the occupants because the Government has not paid its bill for six months.

The embarrassment the Police Service faces

When you talk to police officers, they would gripe about the embarrassment the Police Service faces in simple things like the provision of meals for persons they arrest. The quality of the food is poor. The portions are small and police officers lament that what they see raises human rights concerns and there is no one in Government to whom they can turn to correct this problem.

This is the kind of abandonment that creates problems within the Police Service and surprisingly not a word from its Line Minister and Minister of Communication, the ever garrulous Stuart Young. This is the kind of neglect that results in demotivation that leaves our officers bereft and demoralized to the point where good officers are even displaying delinquent behaviour. Our Government must provide the platform that would allow our officers to rise and perform in a way that hardens the resolve of good citizens to stand in support of our men in blue.

But simply posing during Carnival and uttering rhetoric about camouflage approval will not help our Police Service combat the vicious scourge of crime which we expect the police to fix and fix fast. After listening to the Parliamentary Channel, it is clear that we are not all on the same page and if the Government really wants a change to take place the lip service they give to all must cease. Simply put no money has been given to the Police Service for the year except for salaries and for the Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, to describe the Commissioner’s concerns as fake news is an atrocity of monumental proportions. Who is lying? The Minister or the Commissioner? One can be assured that it is not the Commissioner of Police.