I am always careful

COMMISSIONER of Police Gary Griffith says his sole aim, purpose and mission as top cop is to make strategic decisions to ensure the safety of law-abiding citizens.

He was responding to concerns raised about his meeting with former New York City mayor and now adviser to President Trump Rudolph Giuliani.

In an interview with Newsday, Griffith said he agreed with National Security Minister Stuart Young that he should be careful who he meets as commissioner, but stressed that his training and experience ensured he was always careful in the decisions he made.

“I do not make knee-jerk decisions, and every action and comment I make is deliberate, with expectation of what would be the results several steps after,” he said.

At last Thursday’s post-Cabinet press briefing, Young said he had expressed some concern to Griffith ahead of the commissioner’s meeting with Giuliani.

Giuliani has been credited with cutting crime in NYC and uniting the city after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, but attracted controversy over issues such as his divorce and for his professional role as adviser and attorney to President Trump.

As it pertains to operational policies to improve the police service, Griffith said it was not his purpose to say or do what pleased everyone.

“I am cautious but bold and daring to make the best decisions to reduce crime.”

He recognised that not every major decision he made would please everyone, but said his job was “to please a father (by) not seeing his son killed in gang violence, or please a child (by) not seeing her father kill her mother due to domestic violence.”

“I intend to absorb and embrace the best options to provide the best results. So I agree with Minister Young that I should be careful, but my decision and mission is based on making this a safer country.

“If there are better options, I would use them.”

Griffith said he has noticed, at times, that people find a way to highlight the negatives and possible concerns as to why something should not happen.

“That is Test cricket leadership – playing it safe and stay in your crease whole day, and at the end of the day, there are few runs on the board.

"In these trying times, I need to make serious decisions for dramatic results, while still being careful,” he stressed.

On his meeting with his counterpart at the NY Police Department (NYPD), with which he signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to “strengthen co-operation” between them to prevent and combat transnational crime, Griffith lauded its crime reduction policies. He said the NYPD was rated among the best police departments in the western hemisphere, and continued policies have led to annual reduction in every major crime.

He gave statistics of the NYPD’s successes, saying there has been a reduction of murders from 2,400 to 290; violent crime from 17,500 to 74,000; robbery from 86,000 to 22,000; assault from 82,000 to 45,000; burglary from 146,000 to 40,000; larceny from 450,000 to 250,000 and vehicle theft from 150,000 to 14,000.

“And the ability to have immense trust and support by the public, primarily because of several neighbourhood and community-related projects that the NYPD has with young people in hot-spot areas.”

These statistics, Griffith added, and the united support between the police there and the public, are what TT should welcome.

He said coming out of his visit to NYC and the signing of the MOU with the NYPD, some chose to highlight a decade-old policy to “diminish the value of a strong MOU between the TTPS and the NYPD.”

One of the older policies he identified involved the “stop and frisk” policy, which he said was replaced by community-oriented policing years ago.

“This is an example of those who see negativity and find red herrings as to why things should not happen.

“I am the opposite. I find ways to make things happen while extracting the positives that can be acquired.”

He also pointed out that Giuliani no longer had operational involvement in the security consultancy he founded, as the firm was now led by someone else and had as its motto, “Policing is not politics."

Griffith chose not to go into much detail of the MOU or some of the NYPD initiatives he thinks could be implemented in TT.