RALPH BAN­WARIE

Rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the var­i­ous re­li­gions who at­tend­ed the East­ern Di­vi­sion po­lice's in­ter­faith ser­vice at the Va­len­cia Sec­ondary School re­cent­ly, all gave one com­mon pat­tern of ad­vice to po­lice of­fi­cers.

They all ad­vised the of­fi­cers to be con­sid­er­ate, kind, lov­ing and re­spect­ful in their per­for­mance of du­ties. The re­li­gious rep­re­sen­ta­tives al­so called for jus­tice to pre­vail and on all of­fi­cers to be fair to cit­i­zens in the per­for­mance of du­ties.

Pas­tor Ronald Heer­ah, of the Hope Com­mu­ni­ty Chapel, told the con­gre­ga­tion that on­ly God could help them in their line of du­ties. But this, he said, could be achieved on­ly if they take some time to get down on their knees and prayed to God for the wis­dom, courage, strength and pro­tec­tion when they leave their re­spec­tive homes for work.

"Do not wait for oc­ca­sions like this in­ter­faith ser­vice to pray. Pray­ing should be done on a dai­ly ba­sis at your home and work place," he said.

Heer­ah em­pha­sised that ask­ing for wis­dom from God would as­sist them in deal­ing with the crim­i­nal el­e­ments, who place many chal­lenges on their lives and cit­i­zens of Trinidad on a dai­ly ba­sis.

Imam Sher­az Ali, mean­while, called on of­fi­cers to stand up for jus­tice. He re­mind­ed the gath­er­ing that jus­tice should not be based on colour of peo­ple's skin but should be across the board.

He said Is­lam is a re­li­gion of peace, love and kind­ness, adding po­lice of­fi­cers should adopt these virtues and treat every re­li­gion with jus­tice.

To­co/San­gre Grande MP and par­lia­men­tary sec­re­tary in the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Glen­da Jen­nings Smith, in her short ad­dress, re­mind­ed of­fi­cers that they are the first judge and must car­ry about their du­ties with dig­ni­ty and pride so the pub­lic would in turn re­spect them.

Se­nior Supt John Trim, Com­man­der of East­ern Di­vi­sion Po­lice, said not­ed that his col­leagues face many chal­lenges. Crime, es­pe­cial­ly mur­ders, had in­creased in the di­vi­sion but his ded­i­cat­ed team of of­fi­cers brave these risks and make every ef­fort to pro­vide safe­ty and pro­tec­tion to cit­i­zens, he said.

Trim re­mind­ed his of­fi­cers that with all the avail­able re­sources pro­vid­ed, "we must at all times re­mem­ber God Almighty. We must wor­ship God as a team."

He said the in­ter­faith ser­vice was es­sen­tial to ac­knowl­edge God in uni­ty so that the nec­es­sary guid­ance can be at­tained by of­fi­cers in the di­vi­sion and by ex­ten­sion the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice.