‘Stop wasting time’

STOP wasting time, Police Commissioner Gary Griffith warned criminals after receiving his fifth death threat in six days yesterday.

Speaking with Sunday Newsday, Griffith said it was “getting boring now” and said the threats signalled he was doing his job.

“I don’t know if it is an opportunity for some to become famous but what I am saying, instead of calling E999 and grand charging all you have to do is come and visit me and I will make them famous,” Griffith said.

Around 2.50 pm yesterday, the Command Centre received a call from a man who cursed and threatened to kill Griffith and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar. The caller claimed he had two guns. Griffith in a media release expressed his concerns that the “ridiculous calls” are wasting police time and resources, including the E999, which was set up to give callers assistance in emergencies.

To date, two people have appeared in court with threatening to kill Griffith. Of the five calls, two threatened the life of Persad-Bissessar and Griffith, one included his wife, Nicole Dyer-Griffith, and the other two were directed at him only. The first person to face the court was a 12-year-old boy who appeared in the Children’s Court last Tuesday.

He pleaded guilty to misusing a telephone to send a threatening message and will be sentenced on January 16.

The offence carries a maximum penalty of a $200 fine or up to a month in prison.

The second person to appear in court was 35-year-old Mahinda Ramnath who was sent to the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital for evaluation.

He went to court one day after the pre-teen. An El Socorro man was arrested on Friday and is expected to appear in court tomorrow for threatening to kill Griffith.

The fourth caller has not been identified.

Griffith told Sunday Newsday the criminal elements or those influenced by them are fearful because he was doing his job by ending their “lucrative” acts.

He claimed there has never been death threats against previous police commissioners.

Asked if he believed that a 12-year-old and a man in need of a psychiatric evaluation were criminals who felt threatened by him, Griffith said: “It is not a matter of just trivialising who the individuals are but certain members in the underworld are speaking out and they are concerned about what is being done.

The fact of the matter is I am not here to make their lives better, my job is to make their lives very difficult.”