Police show what they can do

March 24, 2015 – Express Editorial

PoliceWhen protesters block roads, police intervention is always needed to clear the routes for commuters but what are commuters to do when police officers themselves protest by blocking the country’s major highways under the guise of roadblocks?

This is the calculated effect of the Police Service Traffic Branch carrying out “checks” yesterday at peak morning hours at all major arteries of Trinidad and Tobago. In an interview on I95.5 FM yesterday, vice-president of the Police Social and Welfare Association Inspector Roger Alexander, clearly not afraid of sounding either foolish or disingenuous, claimed that the exercises were intended to catch criminals with weapons, drunk drivers, and persons without “proper documentation”.
Full Article : trinidadexpress.com

12 thoughts on “Police show what they can do”

  1. POLICE BRUTALITY
    Surprise roadblocks cripple T&T

    Alfonso tells cops: Salary issue being addressed

    Police executive in dark on nationwide roadblocks: ACP gets 14 days to find answers

    We are sorry
    Acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) Ann-Marie Alleyne-Daly, apologised to the public for the frustration they felt, stuck for hours in a traffic gridlock.

    Alfonso as he meets police top brass on roadblocks: I don’t think it was intentional
    …did not think the police had deliberately set out to mount the roadblocks to put pressure on Government over the stalled wage negotiations with the CPO.

    Alfonso: What were police looking for?

  2. The PPP was always pushing for a police state. Perhaps this is another one of their efforts to produce one. Alfonso has to be very careful he is not made a scapegoat for the fall out whenever it comes.

    1. An idiot is born every moment now it is worst with Internet. You are a poor example of human understanding. The police want mo money from the government…

      1. Mamoo you just cannot read between the lines, can you? Whoever is using you is really playing you? You are the ideal bait. They are only interested in winning an election and you are only there to make that happen. Once they get what they want ….you are toast. Just like what they did to the COP in 2010. Use and abuse…that’s the nature of their game. I cannot believe you are just a mammoo…..

  3. “With police solving just 15 per cent of murders this year, Government will seek help from law enforcement agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom to increase the homicide detection rate. Statistics, shown by acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams on Monday, revealed that out of 399 murders for the year, in only 63 have there been arrests and charges.

    In an interview yesterday, National Security Minister Gary Griffith said 400 murders were not acceptable and his thrust for next year would be to cut the rate by half. He said that would be done by disbanding criminal gangs, reducing the importation of illegal guns and increasing the detection rate. With just days left in the year, he said the murder toll could resemble last year’s tally of 407.” Trinidad Guardian

    The police need to stop disrupting the lives of ordinary citizens and instead go after the real criminals.

    1. Mamoo who is in control of who? Is the police taking orders from the government or is it the government that is taking orders from the police? Was Monday not a result of who was taking orders from who. UNC or u ain’t see that … we are a police state already…the UNC votes are already in the bank….bought and paid for. UNC just needs now to keep the PNM supporters against the wall, jobless, penniless, fleeing the country etc., so that the election numbers will profit them. This is an all out war by the recalcitrant minority to keep the reins of power in their hands. Carnival is dying, pan is in a mess…. kiaso is dead…mass men have taken flight. All talk of building super complexes for mass, steallbands, parades etc. is no more….all talk dies with Carnival in Lent every year for the past four years, the guns were trained on whining butts, the mass people were all broken as the all inclusive government supported bands took everything away from the people who were over policed. Yes our biggest festival has gone to the dogs. The biggest story was about this Indo young lady supposedly whining on Mr Rowley. Are we all idiots to what is really going on in our blessed nation. We now have to disband the tourism ministry. Our hotels are filled daily by filthy rich trinis …you know which ones who fete themselves and their families while most ah we suffer without jobs, no money, scarce groceries etc. Mamoo do you know NCC had to take back millions in drinks, food stuffs etc. not sold over the Carnival season by vendors trying to make a living. Everybody says the costumes this year were remarkably poor yet some made millions… the chosen few. Capitalism is destroying Trinidad and Tobago. We have a government of Capitalist NOT a democratic government who serves the people’s interests. I feel for the young Tobagonians as once they do not suck to the old filthy rich bosses there they are toast …..they still remain the slaves of yesterday.

    2. Hah you are now a spokesman for the government. We are doling out plenty monies to solve what…..or is it to fool who?

  4. Mamoo, I believe that you are the laughing stock of this board. With so many hints of the idiocy that you convey, I’m surprised that you continue to prove us right. You believe that all you have to do is pile up negatives upon negatives on the people you hate and praise the PPP in their most ridiculous acts of wantoness and stupidity and your objectives are achieved. Actually, it shows that when power goes unchecked, people who have that power subject their enemies to abuse and disregard. The people who hold the power to elect, re-elect and disappoint are watching. Those who abuse and ignore will themselves be asked to account for their actions when the shoe is on the other foot.

    1. In most civilized societies the public is made fully aware of impending job action by unions. Responsible unions notify the public and their employers regarding the start and nature of their job actions, allowing the public and the employers to make alternative arrangements.
      In T&T these types of legal notifications never take place. Recently job action by ferry employees forced an inter island ferry to Tobago to sit out on the ocean for five hours, unable to dock, while passengers at Scarborough were forced to wait for five hours before their ferry was allowed to depart.
      The obvious, detrimental and probably illegal job action taken by the Police in this instance once again puts the irresponsibility of the unions on display.
      Since the PP was elected, unions in T&T have been strutting their stuff, making multiple and unreasonable demands from the government which are politically motivated and encouraged by the Opposition. Since most of the union leaders support the PNM or are members of the PNM, the motivation is to embarrass the government. It is interesting to note that under the PNM, union leaders were quiet and less demanding, resulting in a high number of unsettled contracts which the PP had to deal with.

    2. Kian, my friend, you are as guilty as Mamoo for presenting the opposite view. At least, Mamoo’s comments are supported by statistical data and empirical evidence.
      Your comments, on the other hand are are littered with generalizations, unsupported opinions, bias, name-calling, insults,bigotry, racism and religious intolerance.
      You have a right to express yourself, but yours is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Your unabashed declaration of being “PNM till ah dead” is your right.

      1. TMan, I do view your criticisms of me as vindication of my efforts to expose the lies, misrepresentations and total untruths that, if allowed, you and Mamoo would fill the spaces of cyber. There is no doubt that we do have a pagan government. Your efforts to paint yourself as christian can hardly be realized by what you write, because your writings are in fact un-christian. You fool no one that race and religion is not your modus operandi. It is the ONLY way you guys know how to politic. For example, a government in power for 5 years and have nothing to show for the over 337 billion in expenditure. A government that has provided us with the most disgraced and corrupted AG, a Prime Minister who is a total stranger to the truth at any given time. One who has abused her powers with each turn she makes. Trinidad and Tobago is DEFINITELY not in the best interest of this government. They use the interests of governance to fill their pockets and to turn this country into the same pattern of governance that we now see in Guyana. My writings and my literature speak for what they are, no amount of proselytising can convey meanings other than what is written. As I said in an earlier blog. You guys feel that you have achieved when you use the most negative words to describe your enemies. It is part of concept of paganism and I accept that. I do not expect you to shower praises unto me, that would be against your religious beliefs. Let me quote you again with your lies, you said of me “Your unabashed declaration of being “PNM till ah dead” is your right.” Have I used the word “unabashed” – yes! Have I used that word in the context that you have attributed to me? HELL NO! but it is your character and I have to accept that as a rival to my ideas.

  5. My problems with editorials like this one, is not that it is not well intended but there is a tendency to avoid linkages that would put editorial writers into question so they choose the safe path towards getting the points they want to make. It might be true to say that the police service as an institution has not performed in a manner worthy of it’s reputation – to protect and serve. But to deny them a seat at the table of wage negotiations is to tell them that they are counted in less esteem than, say, the public service who have just negotiated a 14% raise. Let me quote from the editorial, “In an interview on I95.5 FM yesterday, vice-president of the Police Social and Welfare Association Inspector Roger Alexander, clearly not afraid of sounding either foolish or disingenuous, claimed that the exercises were intended to catch criminals with weapons, drunk drivers, and persons without “proper documentation”.” The police, like other protected services are restrained by way of law against anti-labor actions, but there is nothing that should prevent them from doing their jobs even if intent might be questioned. This is a government that openly bribes people it favors, into taking positions in government they consider strategic. For example, the finance minister was given $11M to take the job. One might use fancy names to define the act but in reality? it is a bribe. The former AG spent more than $353M
    to give to his lawyer friends, various sectors of governments have literally given away billions to the most favored contractors. The Prime Minister herself have given away over $55M to christian churches, why? We don’t know but it would be appropriate to call that a bribe too. She spent a few months staying at the home of one her friends and before you know they too had a $40M contract. This government win friends by showering them with money. The police are no fools in this scenario of the money game and whilst this editorial might criticise their tactics, there is no doubt that as people who put their lives on the line every day, they too deserve to be recognized for the services that they offer. Most of those who share in the $337B expenditure do NOT put their lives on the line every day. The police do. So, given the experience of governmental expenditure and favoritism in selecting individuals, contractors, institutions and organizations to shower monies to, why shouldn’t the police be included? In the end, it might be the police who may have to investigate most of this kind of spending and may have to employ forensic expertise in the financial dealings of many of these culprits. So, we have to pay our policemen and women well because they have a gigantic job ahead in the coming years and the politicians of today may have to stick around long enough to explain their behavior.

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