In light of the recent "total policing" philosophy, strategy and actions announced by Insp Alexander of the Police Social and Welfare Association Monday, when there were major traffic disruptions due to police activities throughout T&T, the Anti-Terrorism Act (No 26 of 2005) should be looked at by the TTPS itself, the Police Complaints Authority and the DPP.
The Act states the following:
A terrorist act is an "an act which causes or is likely to cause...(iii)...disruption in the provision... of services directly related to banking, financial services, transportation or...and is intended to compel (iv) a government to do or refrain from doing any act or (v) intimidate the public or a section of the public for the purpose of advancing a political, ideological or religious cause."
Did the activities of last Friday and Monday qualify as a terrorist act by some members of the police service? It is my non-legal view that:
�2 Yes, it did cause or was likely to cause disruption to the provision of services directly related to banking, financial services and transportation as all were affected;
�2 Yes, it was intended to compel the Government through the Chief Personnel Officer to act in a certain way in salary negotiations;
�2 Yes, it was intended to intimidate members of the public or a section of it, that is, the travelling or driving public. I am quite sure that many law-abiding people felt intimidated by the officers.
�2 Yes, for the advancement of an ideological cause. The ideological cause here from the police officers was the implementation of the "total policing" concept. We have heard and seen the implementation of community policing, traditional policing, intelligence-led policing, 21st century policing, smart policing, etc, but never has this ideology of "total policing" where all the major arteries of the nation's roads would be blocked in peak drive time, been discussed and implemented. In fact, this new ideology (belief) that some police officers wanted to introduce was without the expressed policy/consent of the executive of the TT Police Service. In the country's history, this has never happened before, so it can be seen as a new ideology being implemented.
The citizenry now awaits the investigations of the executive of the TTPS, the Police Complaints Authority and the DPP on this matter so that justice can be meted out to all, that the rule of law stands firm, and that this should never ever happen again. This should be tested in court. Upon conviction on indictment, the punishment is imprisonment of 25 years. That is my non-legal view.
Kevin Ram,
via e-mail