SRP under probe after viral ‘weed’ video

SHARLENE RAMPERSAD

A Special Reserve Police (SRP) from the Freeport Police Station is now under investigation after a video featuring him went viral on social media yesterday.

The video shows an officer in uniform speaking to a man who is recording unknowing to the officer. The man begins the one minute and 39 second long video stating he is doing a ‘simple social experiment’ to reveal how the TTPS takes bribes.

The man does not identify himself by name but Newsday understands he is also a police officer who was once stationed at the Freeport Police Station. A senior officer told Newsday yesterday that the ‘camera man’ is currently on leave from the service and knows the uniformed officer well.

“Ah man now ask me for a bribe, ah police,” the man says as he starts recording. He appears to be driving off from a gas station and calls out to several people as he drives off.

“So he coming, he coming, the police coming…he want d bribe,” he says. He then sticks his head out of the car window and shouts, “Whey yuh dey boi? He saying he ent want to cross d road, he smart…but he really want to give meh…he really want the money, the *expletive* really want d money cause he drunk and sweaty right now and I seeing him.”

He calls out again “Yea boi dog, boi, officer, wham boi?”

Addressing the camera again, he says “Yea he comin, tusty officer, he wah a hundred, I giving him a hundred and ah asking him for weed.”

The officer then approaches the car, asking “Yea boi, what is the scene? What we go do?”

The camera man replies “Hold that nah, I want some weed, you eh have no weed boi.”

The officer replies, “How much yuh want?”

“Ah want ah pound boi, I have $500 now,” the man says.

The officer tells him he cannot get a pound for him but he can supply him with a ‘quarter ounce.’

The quarter ounce, the officer says, is at his home.

“I had to go get that, I have that home,” the officer says.

The man asks him for his phone number which the officer supplies.

“I hope alyuh get that Trinidad, how the *expletive* police is pest,” the man says before ending the video.

The clip was released on social media yesterday and in response, the TTPS issued a statement on their official Twitter account.

“The Professional Standards Bureau is now investigating the contents of a video, in circulation on social media, involving a police officer. On its face the video is in fact troubling and a source of great concern to the TTPS,” the tweet read.

Within hours of its release, the video had racked up thousands of views, shares and comments.

Many social media users called for the uniformed officer to lose his job, while others opined that he could not be fired as there was no evidence to support the man’s claims.