Once dubbed the "crime capital," T&T has become a nation repeatedly faced with violent crimes, including "hits" on police and prisons officers. With the Christmas season in full gear and Carnival fast approaching, the nation continues to grapple with an apparent upsurge in criminal activities.
Faced with the daunting task of renewing the public's confidence, the performance of Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs would be critically analysed next year, said Police Service Commission member Martin George. In an interview at his Port-of-Spain office, George said the top cop and Deputy Police Commissioner (Operations) Jack Ewatski would come under scrutiny by the board, after which it would determined "whether or not they performed."
Crucial in crime-fighting, George also said, was a drastic transformation in the general attitude of all law enforcement officers, especially police officers.George, a prominent attorney, also sits on the commission's tribunal committee.
Expressing grave concern that if a "paradigm shift" was not immediately achieved, the Police Service could be faced with even greater lack of public trust.In July 2010, a new board of the commission was appointed under the stewardship of chairman Nizam Mohammed.
Appraisal for Gibbs next year
Come mid-2011, the anti-crime initiatives of Gibbs and Ewtaski would be placed under the microscope of the commission, George said.Saying it was yet to early to determine the effectiveness of Gibbs' strategies, George said, however, that it appeared that the top cop was "on the right track."
George said the commission was in the process of finalising certain criteria and guidelines expected to be fully met by Gibbs.
"It might be early at this point to give an opinion regarding Gibbs' performance but once we have the objective criteria established, then it's a simple issue of you have either performed or you have not performed," George said."And once you have given the opportunity to perform, we will be able to measure your performance against that established criteria." He said out of three recent meetings held between the commission and Gibbs, discussions were cordial and there were high expectations the many positive results would be achieved.
"We held meetings with Gibbs...he seems very eager to get to the bottom of the problem," George said."And from what we have discussed, it appears that he has started a process that is geared in the right direction in terms of the overall transformation of the Police Service. "It is one of the things that we are certainly trying to get done."He warned, however, that there was no instant remedy to free T&T from