Western Div police upset over arrested officers' treatment

Insp Michael Seales
Insp Michael Seales

Some officers of the Western Division had to be convinced not to down tools over concerns about the treatment of three arrested officers last week, reported Police Social and Welfare Division President Michael Seales.

He was speaking at a media conference at the association's Riverside Plaza office on Thursday.

Cpl Nicholas Nurse, and PCs Kevin Cassie and Kevin de Freitas appeared before deputy chief magistrate Nanette Forde-John this week in the Port of Spain Magistrates court, to answer the charges of assault, kidnapping, false imprisonment and misbehaviour in office which arose out of an incident involving a La Puerta man, on November 5.

The three had surrendered to the Professional Standards Bureau last Wednesday.

Seales reported officers of the Western Division were considering downing tools following the arrest of three officers and recalled both he and ACP Anti-Crime Operations Irwin Hackshaw had to visit the officers and appeal to them to actually work. He explained the officers had no objection to the arrest of their colleagues but their treatment. He said when a member of a previous government was arrested he received superior treatment compared to the officers and there was the need for one standard approach "that does not dehumanise a person that comes into police custody."

"The association has maintained that when you treat people, you treat people with the respect and dignity that they deserve even though they are a prisoner and found themselves on the wrong side of the law."

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"Western Div police upset over arrested officers' treatment"

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