The credibility of T&T Police Service is once again under scrutiny after the Director of Public Prosecutions directed the Professional Standards Bureau to charge four policemen with the robbery of Danny and Yvonne Owu, a Chinese couple living at Bon Air Gardens, Arouca, of $655,000 at their home a week ago.
The couple, owners of a casino and restaurant, remain in protective custody after receiving death threats in relation to the case and an acting sergeant, a corporal and two constables have been formally charged with the offences.The money is yet to be recovered, but at least in this case the Professional Standards Bureau of the service and the DPP's office acted promptly to ensure the matter was investigated and action taken.
But this and other recent incidents have plummeted confidence in the Police Service as an agency of justice and protection for the public in general and the underprivileged in particular.
Over the weekend, in an unusual story, a policeman working at a party in Chaguaramas approached three people smoking marijuana. As he attempted to take one of them into custody, according to one side of the still unfolding story, there was a struggle for the officer's service pistol. The weapon discharged, killing 17-year-old Recardo Mohammed who was standing nearby but was not involved in the incident with the policeman. That matter remains under police investigation.
It's a situation, however, that's apparently led to political parties becoming involved, as demonstrated by the situation on Monday that found Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley and the PNM's Youth Officer Fitzgerald Hinds put in the position of receiving spent shells, evidence in the killings of three men at Desperlie Crescent, Laventille, on Thursday.
Dr Rowley toured the area after eyewitnesses and residents claimed policemen worked in collusion with soldiers to kill the three men, a claim which has been denied by both the police and army hierarchy. But were there no police on duty among the many deployed there at Desperlie Crescent for the Rowley tour, or prior to his appearance there, that the residents trusted enough to hand over this evidence?
Dr Rowley wisely referred the matter and the shells to members of the Inter-Agency Task Force who were on hand, but the question of the public's confidence in the officers hired and trained to protect them remains a troubling one.
There are close to 40 police killings on record for the year. In far too many of the cases, witnesses accuse police of using excessive and unnecessary force, something that invites investigation even in cases where gunfire is exchanged and officers are put in the position of defending themselves.Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams has been quick and clear in his defence of his officers in the recent Laventille triple killings, but his work on reviving public confidence in the service will be a little tougher.
Furthermore, there remains no third party ombudsman to hear such complaints after the resignation of Gillian Lucky from the Police Complaints Authority. Even while Ms Lucky was in charge of that body, she had occasion to lament the tardy response of the police service to her requests for information and documents.
"Clearly," Ms Lucky noted in a statement in June, "there is flagrant violation by certain police officers to ensure compliance with timelines and to ensure thoroughness and fairness in investigations."Now there is effectively no ear available to hear the concerns of the public in that office and there has been no word on any timeline for the appointment of a new director to the position.
Without the confidence of the public, the Police Service faces an impossible task in improving detection and arrest rates.But perhaps vice-president of the Police Social Welfare Association, acting Inspector Michael Seales, summed the situation up best when he noted on Monday that his office hoped "that this matter can be speedily resolved so that we can restore some measure of trust and confidence to the public that is looking on and witnessing this matter as it unfolds."