In the wake of a traffic control officer being accused of denying a pregnant woman, on the verge of giving birth, access to the Priority Bus Route during peak travel hours comes the shocking sight of a car owner sitting on the bonnet of his car as it is being towed to the impound lot.
The first incident–in which an officer assigned to the Transit Police Unit (TPU) first stopped a vehicle with a pregnant woman and her husband, then ordered them off the bus route into two hours of traffic after salting the situation liberally with a $2,000 citation for illegal use of the route–has been met with concern by the T&T Police Service, who quickly pointed to the TPU and outright condemnation by Police Complaints Authority (PCA) director David West.
Mr West described the action taken by the officer as one of "stupidity," but one which fell short of being described as serious police misconduct, which is the primary business of the authority.
"What they need," the PCA director said last week, "is training of the officers and how to use their discretion."
Discretion was again in short supply on Monday as an annoyed driver took a seat on the bonnet of his blue Nissan Wingroad and remained there as the vehicle was towed away, expressing his displeasure with the wrecking crew directly and to any passers by.
It was a moment of profound recklessness on the part of the angry driver, but his wrath at being towed is no excuse for monumentally poor judgment.
That charge of poor judgment must also be laid at the feet of the officer who oversaw the towing of the vehicle and allowed this dangerous nonsense to happen.
In another echo of the bus route incident, officials have been quick to distance themselves from the embarrassment of being held responsible. Port-of-Spain Mayor Keron Valentine pointed out that the wrecker was attached to the Central Police Station, not the City Corporation.
The echoes of what-might-have-been resonate with the bus route incident. In both cases, a dangerous situation ended reasonably well and the police decisions in both matters never escalated to the point of serious cross-examination, but that doesn't mean that these problematic situations should be considered aberrations.
The Shaggy defence of a hastily muttered "It wasn't me," may have taken the City Corporation and the TTPS off the embarrassing tip of both barbed situations, but both authorities must recognise the need to raise their game in managing the relationship that officers of the line must work to build with the public.
Had things gone differently for that pregnant woman consigned to bumper to bumper traffic or that man perched on the hood of a moving car, both officers would have found themselves in circumstances far more worrying than humiliation if citizens had been hurt because of their lapses in judgment.
Officers of the law dealing with the public must be trained and understand that they are empowered to make decisions about the law that deliver the greater good of the people they are sworn to protect and serve.
Clearly there is greater need for sensitivity training and a dramatic improvement in the way that officers engage with the public, with a specific emphasis on how they manage situations which challenge the letter of the law and demand sensible, supportable judgment on their part.