Rowley: Flying Squad exists (with CNC3 video)

Rowley's news conference

Leader of the Opposition Dr Keith Rowley is insisting the Flying Squad within the Police Service has been revived and exists. He spoke at a news conference at his office on Charles Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Rowley said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar must make a clear and comprehensive statement on the matter when she returned later this week from a Caricom inter-sessional meeting in Haiti.

National Security Minister Jack Warner has insisted that there is no Flying Squad in the Police Service. Rowley said the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), chaired by former MP Gillian Lucky, and the Police Service Commission should investigate the matter in the interest of the public. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Guardian on February 1, former inspector of police Mervyn Cordner said the Flying Squad was secretly revived last July, weeks after Warner was appointed National Security Minister. 

Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams promised to investigate the matter but has not revealed his findings as yet. Rowley said the Opposition had information that proved some of the members of the revived squad have met in the wee hours of the morning with Warner and others. He said the squad has done work and was given vehicles to carry out its duties.

He said there was a mixture of fact and fiction in the public domain on the matter and the Government had the responsibility to clarify the issue. Rowley again called on Warner to resign over the issue. He also said the Government had failed to deal with the crime problem and despite Warner’s claims that crime was being addressed, there had been more than 62 murders in the first 50 days of the year.