I have been read­ing about the com­plaints by Mu­nic­i­pal Po­lice of­fi­cers about not re­ceiv­ing the $1,000 salary in­crease which has now al­so been giv­en to SRP of­fi­cers. Hav­ing lived all my life in Port-of-Spain I can un­der­stand why any gov­ern­ment would not give an in­crease to these of­fi­cers. We do not see Mu­nic­i­pal Po­lice of­fi­cers at any time of day or night and all of the po­lice work that we know about is done by of­fi­cers of the Bel­mont Po­lice Sta­tion.

Crime is in­ves­ti­gat­ed by the CID and we have nev­er seen a po­lice ve­hi­cle from the City Po­lice in more than ten years. Since they are do­ing noth­ing ex­cept spend­ing the whole day in their po­lice sta­tion, it seems very odd that mu­nic­i­pal po­lice of­fi­cers are ask­ing for an in­crease. Let them pa­trol the streets and ar­rest all those chain-snatch­ers and pick-pock­ets.

Let them come by the gen­er­al hos­pi­tal and help us with traf­fic. Let them go in the Cen­tral Mar­ket and do pa­trols. But for good­ness sake, let them do some work be­fore you give them any in­crease.

John­son Matthews

Port-of-Spain