Chester Sam­bra­no

The Po­lice Ser­vice Com­mis­sion is now seek­ing to clar­i­fy that Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Er­la Hare­wood-Christo­pher has been re­moved from of­fice amid an on­go­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tion.

In a me­dia re­lease this morn­ing the PolSC said un­der the Con­sti­tu­tion of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go, the re­spon­si­bil­i­ties of the Po­lice Ser­vice Com­mis­sion (PolSC) in­clude the ap­point­ment of per­sons to hold and to act in the of­fices of Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice and Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, to re­move from of­fice and to ex­er­cise dis­ci­pli­nary con­trol over per­sons hold­ing or act­ing in these of­fices [(Sec­tion 123 (1) (a) and (c)].

The PolSC said on 30th Jan­u­ary, 2025, it re­ceived a com­mu­ni­ca­tion from the Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, In­tel­li­gence and In­ves­ti­ga­tion, stat­ing that on 30th Jan­u­ary, 2025, Er­la Hare­wood-Christo­pher, Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) was cau­tioned, in­formed that she was a sus­pect in an on­go­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to mis­be­hav­iour in pub­lic of­fice and was un­der ar­rest. 

“In light of the above, the PolSC in the prop­er dis­charge of its du­ty, in the in­ter­est of the Po­lice Ser­vice and in the pub­lic in­ter­est, re­quest­ed Mrs Hare­wood-Christo­pher to cease to re­port for du­ty and to cease to dis­charge the du­ties of the Of­fice of Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, with im­me­di­ate ef­fect, un­til fur­ther no­tice.  This ac­tion has been tak­en as the mat­ter is still be­ing in­ves­ti­gat­ed. The PolSC wish­es to clar­i­fy that Mrs Hare­wood-Christo­pher is not the sub­ject of any dis­ci­pli­nary pro­ceed­ings.” 

It said in the in­ter­im, un­der its con­sti­tu­tion­al pow­ers and in keep­ing with the pro­vi­sions of Sec­tion 123 (2) and (3) of the Con­sti­tu­tion and Clause 4 and 5 of Le­gal No­tice No. 277 of 2021 – The Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice and Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (Se­lec­tion Process) (No. 2) Or­der, 2021 amend­ed by Le­gal No­tice No. 278 of 2021 – The Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice and Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (Se­lec­tion Process) (No. 2) (Amend­ment) Or­der, 2021, the PolSC has fol­lowed the process man­dat­ed by law, in nom­i­nat­ing, ac­cord­ing to two Or­der of Mer­it Lists, one in re­spect of Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, a per­son to act in the of­fice of Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice and, one in re­spect of Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, a per­son to act in the of­fice of Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice.

It said the names of the top-ranked in­di­vid­u­als from each re­spec­tive Or­der of Mer­it List were pre­sent­ed to the Pres­i­dent for nom­i­na­tion to the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives. 

 The PolSC said it awaits the out­come of the de­lib­er­a­tions of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, pur­suant to the Con­sti­tu­tion be­fore mak­ing any act­ing ap­point­ments in ac­cor­dance with Sec­tion 123 (5).

“ The PolSc rec­og­nizes the con­cerns be­ing ex­pressed and is al­so aware of the crit­i­cal need to main­tain sta­bil­i­ty and pub­lic con­fi­dence in the of­fices which rep­re­sent the lead­er­ship of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS). More so, the PolSC re­mains cog­nizant of the im­pact that this de­vel­op­ment has on all as­pects of the TTPS and by ex­ten­sion, the na­tion.”

On Wednes­day Par­lia­ment will de­bate the act­ing ap­point­ment of Ju­nior Ben­jamin to the of­fice of Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice and Kurt Si­mon to act as Deputy Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er.