Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher’s Carnival debut was a successful one, as she proudly announced yesterday that there were no major incidents of crime for during the festive season.
Harewood-Christopher also dispelled rumours of industrial action by her officers, saying they turned out in their numbers to pick up duties over the Carnival weekend up to yesterday.
“Police officers are out in their numbers. All areas are covered. We have no problems with attendance,” Harewood-Christopher said during her first Carnival walkabout to take in the Carnival revelry in Port-of-Spain yesterday.
“I would like to take the opportunity to thank all my officers for their outstanding efforts. Officers who were on vacation were required to come in and they did,” she added.
Just last week, police officers also signed off on the four per cent wage increase offered by CPO Daryl Dindial.
Asked if there were any increased requests for Firearm Users License (FUL) for the Carnival season, Harewood-Christopher said yes.
“There will always be requests for FULs, that is because we have a nation of persons who believe that a firearm can protect them, so, yes, but the issuance of FULs, there’s a stringent investigative process, so, even if a request is made it would not have been processed.”
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, who accompanied the police brass on the walkabout, also said he was pleased with the safety and security blanket provided for the season by law enforcement agencies who walked in tandem for the period.
“I had an opportunity to see even this morning’s report and it’s reflecting just as the Commissioner, the Vice Chief of Defence Staff, Commissioner of Prisons, and the Chief Fire Officer have reported, that in terms of safety and security so far, it appears as though the systems that are in place, whether aerial, whether on the sea and certainly on land into this festivities, it seems it has been working.”
Asked if there were any issues or concerns from any of the law enforcement agencies, Hinds replied: “I interpret your question as one of hardcore matters of National Security and you would expect that these were not matters to be discussed but you would have heard there has been no issue or complaints from those responsible for executing the law enforcement, the safety and security platform, they have no complaints.”
He added: “Having been briefed and having briefed the Cabinet and the National Security Council on the operational platform that the Police Commissioner and the other heads of national security agencies have put in place, thus far, on behalf of all us, I can say I am quite sanguine, quite happy.”
Chief of Defence Staff, Colonel Dexter Francis, said the T&T Defence Force was out in full numbers and supporting each division throughout T&T.
“No incidents have been reported. Soldiers respond to calls for assistance by members of the police service. In that regard, any authority soldiers carry out, they carry out at the behest of the members of the police service. The soldiers will allow the police to do their jobs and will provide a safe and secure environment to do so,” Francis said.
Last week, it was announced that 300 soldiers would be deployed to support the TTPS during the season.
Francis also disclosed that there were increased joint police and army patrols throughout the country, including Tobago.
Acting Prisons Commissioner Deopersad Ramoutar said his officers were also in full attendance over the weekend.
“I have to commend my officers. The prisoners are quite calm and all is in order. We are quite safe,” Ramoutar said.