The rift between the Police Service Social and Welfare Association and the Police Commissioner is taking a new dimension as the association is contemplating taking Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs to court in a bid to force him to reopen all police canteens.The association's secretary, Sgt Michael Seales, said yesterday officers had been repeatedly expressing concern about the two per cent rebate they were supposed to receive on buying items from the canteen.In March this year, Gibbs said the decision to close all police canteens resulted from the $1 million debt incurred by the canteens.Gibbs had also said there was a small number of members who used the services of the canteens and said the canteens could not be sustained because of the poor financial state.Seales, however, said the right to operate a police canteen was enshrined in the Constitution as stipulated by the Police Service Act, Chapter 15.There were nine police canteens throughout T&T.Money spent by police officers at various canteens was calculated upon the officers' retirement by the Police Finance Branch which then proved how much refund should be made to the retired officers.However, officers have demanded that since the canteens were no longer in operation their rebate should be granted immediately.
"Police officers want to know what is happening with their money. Today (yesterday) I received about 14 calls from members asking what was the status of their rebate," Seales said.Saying that the canteens provided a vital service to police officers, Seales added: "One of our options is to take the commissioner to court to get him to reopen the canteens."Some of our members have already expressed their support in going that way," Seales added.He said members of the central committee were expected to meet today but the executive of the association was not invited."The central committee members will be discussing all issues affecting police officers and stemming from that meeting feedback will then be given to the association's executive," Seales said.The association also has claimed that a BMW 7 Series car, valued close to $1 million, had been bought for a top senior executive member of the Police Service.Contacted yesterday, Sharon Lee Assang, director of public affairs of the Police Service, said that claim was untrue.She said the office of the Commissioner of Police had an official vehicle. Asked if it was a BMW she said: "I have not seen any BMW parked anywhere."
A statement from the Public Affairs Unit of the Police Service late yesterday said there was no impropriety regarding the purchase of a vehicle for the office of the Commissioner of Police.The release said the official vehicle for the Office of the Commissioner of Police was decommissioned in September, 2010 and since then the Police Service initiated the process for the identification and purchase of a vehicle for the office."On the contrary, the vehicle is not a personal item." the release stated.It added: "To suggest that there is impropriety in the TTPS regarding the purchase of a vehicle for the Office of the Commissioner of Police is supercilious and contemptuous," the release also said "Moreover, the attempt by persons to make a connection between the negotiation of the terms and conditions for the officers of the TTPS and the purchase of a vehicle by the organisation is undoubtedly malicious and misleading. The negotiations for the terms and conditions of Police officers fall squarely under the remit of the Chief Personnel Officer and not the Office of the Commissioner of Police or the executive of the TTPS."