A war of words has erupted between acting Police Commissioner Gary Griffith and his predecessor Stephen Williams, fuelled by their differences of opinion over the issuing of firearm users licences.
The exchanges escalated after Williams, in a radio interview yesterday, described Griffith as “an ignorant narcissistic type person.”
In response, the acting CoP was critical of Williams’ tenure at the helm of the T&T Police Service (TTPS), stating: “He said nothing, he did nothing. He was a total failure. Every single thing went upside down in the Police Service and he has the audacity now to want to speak.”
The two men have been trading barbs since a newspaper report over the weekend about firearms licences.
In an interview yesterday on I95FM, Williams accused Griffith of spreading incorrect information about the issuing of Firearms Users Licences (FULs) and said he did not understand his role as the head of the TTPS.
“I hear the acting Commissioner continuously saying that citizens of Trinidad and Tobago have the right to be armed. He’s ignorant of the portfolio and he’s a narcissistic type person. It is all about him… him alone and nobody shouldn’t say anything, whether it makes sense or it doesn’t make sense, whether is the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, the Law Association, whoever. He listens to absolutely no one and once you speak, he attacks,” Williams said
His comments came one day after Griffith took aim at Williams during a TTPS media conference, criticising the former CoP for his objections to licenses being granted to individuals to own multiple weapons.
Acting Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith.
“You have a problem with law-abiding citizens carrying firearms but you never said a word about 37,000 illegal firearms out there by cold-blooded killers,” Griffith told reporters on Monday.
The tit-for-tat continued yesterday, with Williams contending that no one is entitled to hold a gun in this country but that Griffith was going about saying “once you qualified, you are entitled to a firearm. The law doesn’t provide any entitlement to any firearm.”
Williams said he should have spoken out within the last three years but did not want to be in any public battle with anyone.
In response, Griffith said for six years Williams said nothing and did nothing.
“He left with 14 per cent public support of the Police Service because of his failures. I turned it from 14 to 39 per cent. This man had over three decades of police experience and someone of no experience was able to beat him in every single of the eight assessments coming and going.”
He further claimed: “The man was a total disaster, never wanted to speak to the media. Now all of a sudden, he wants to speak.”
Griffith accused Williams of allowing his personal opinions on gun ownership to influence his duties as commissioner.
The acting CoP said there are robust systems in place during and after the application process for a firearms licence, to ensure people are competent and responsible enough to own weapons and the TTPS will continue to enforce mandatory training for legal firearm owners.
“It is there in the law, and I intend to enforce it, where every single person who has a firearm must go to an established range, where you will be monitored and trained on how to use your firearm and use it to have it clear and safe,” Griffith said.