THAT IS the call from the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service's Social and Welfare Association, Inspector Christopher Holder, who also wants a mechanism to be put in place for officers who are wrongly accused.
"There must also be something in place for persons who are the object of fictitious complaints," he said. Holder was commenting on the release of the seventh Report of the Authority in Parliament last week, which was very critical of police officers in the conduct of the duty based on complaints by members of the public.
"To have all these (inconclusive) reports year after year was not the best way to go," he added.
INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS
Holder said: "There is a need to have a separate institution to do independent investigations, and it could even include citizens who are not from this country to conduct investigations."
Holder said under the current arrangement anybody could make an allegation against police officers, but without a clinical investigation they would remain only allegations. He said the release of these inconclusive reports was only doing more harm to the police service. He said there is already a concern over the image of the police in this country and the reports would not do anything to improve that public perception.
OFFICERS UNDER PRESSURE
"We need not further aggravate further the public perception of the police by the work of the Complaints Authority."
He said police officers are put under extreme pressure when their colleagues find out that allegations are made against them. According to Holder, the complaints made against police officers need to be treated more seriously, adding that sufficient funding should be provided by Government to ensure the process was more clinical.
He said all Members of Parliament should not come together and get serious about this matter. He said the new body should be created by the Constitution and not be subject to political influence.
Taken from the web site of the Trinidad Express newspaper.
