Camille Clarke

Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter John Sandy has is­sued a di­rec­tive for all ranks of pris­ons of­fi­cers, in­clud­ing Com­mis­sion­er John Rougi­er, to be searched up­on en­ter­ing the na­tion's pris­ons.This fol­lows re­ports that a se­nior of­fi­cer at the Max­i­mum Se­cu­ri­ty Prison was caught tak­ing drugs in­to the prison two weeks ago.

The di­rec­tive was is­sued yes­ter­day dur­ing a high-pow­ered meet­ing of se­nior of­fi­cers from var­i­ous di­vi­sions and ser­vices un­der the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty.Pris­ons Com­mis­sion­er Rougi­er had re­cent­ly said he did not in­tend to sub­ject se­nior of­fi­cers to search­es at points of en­try.How­ev­er, Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Sub­ash Pan­day told the T&T Guardian: "The de­ci­sion is that all of­fi­cers, from the com­mis­sion­er down, ought to be sub­ject to scan­ning and be­ing searched."

That came af­ter a se­nior of­fi­cer was caught tak­ing nar­cotics in­to the prison."This is the rea­son. For an of­fi­cer to give this to in­mates to traf­fic, that is not on­ly an of­fence but un­der­min­ing na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty. That per­son is al­ready a con­vict­ed felon. When you take it to them that is to pro­mote that be­hav­iour," Pan­day said.

Pan­day said hits al­so were be­ing or­dered from the pris­ons and of­fi­cers re­cent­ly found 64 cell­phones in one cell and six in an­oth­er."Who took them in? It couldn't be the Army or the Coast Guard, so one nar­rows it down," he said."Min­is­ter Sandy says ze­ro tol­er­ance will be im­ple­ment­ed and gave full in­struc­tions to give full ac­tion. He says when he was a Chief of De­fence Staff he led by ex­am­ple and sub­ject­ed him­self to search­es."

Pan­day said he had the high­est re­spect for his se­nior min­is­ter.He added: "As a com­man­der he asked the of­fi­cers to search him. We must obey the com­mand and make sure the com­mand is obeyed."It is the way we in­tend to fight crime and the Gov­ern­ment is not idling. We are us­ing all our pow­er."We are mak­ing a con­cert­ed ef­fort and we are not giv­ing up. Min­is­ter Sandy says we not back­ing down. We go­ing with full force and we start­ed to­day with Prime Min­is­ter's crime plan."

Pres­i­dent of the Pris­ons Of­fi­cers As­so­ci­a­tion Ra­jku­mar Ram­roop said the as­so­ci­a­tion en­dorsed the ef­forts of both min­is­ters to en­sure the pris­ons were a safe en­vi­ron­ment. "It was a di­rec­tive that was giv­en by Min­is­ter Sandy to the com­mis­sion­er that all of­fi­cers, ju­nior and se­nior, will be searched," Ram­roop said. He said the min­is­ter was per­plexed about the half-search and the pro­lif­er­a­tion of con­tra­band ma­te­ri­als.

"We en­dorse the ef­forts by the min­is­ter. We must en­sure pub­lic safe­ty is num­ber one pri­or­i­ty and crime re­duc­tion is an in­te­gral part of that," Ram­roop said.Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Pris­ons Mar­tin Mar­tinez did not wish to com­ment on the sub­ject be­cause he was "in a meet­ing."Pris­ons Com­mis­sion­er John Rougi­er was not avail­able for com­ment.