Cops caught selling escorts to fete patrons

POLICE COMMISSIONER Gary Griffith is issuing a stern warning to both police and the public not to be part of an ongoing racket where some officers are selling escorts to fete patrons to get out of heavy traffic.

In an interview with Newsday yesterday, Griffith said while on duty at the Soaka Till Sunrise fete, at the O2 Park, Chaguaramas, he noticed several police officers soliciting their services for sale by offering a police escort to fete patrons to get out of traffic for a price.

Griffith said these and other issues concerning police indiscipline were brought to his attention and he was adamant to bring an end to this practice.

“I saw that these officers were basically selling their services by offering escorts to the patrons to get out of the traffic. Some of the people they were offering the escorts to even included persons of interest.

“I can say that several of these officers involved will be facing disciplinary matters and will be taken off their assigned division soon.

“I intend to put an end to this. I am making this public, to ask citizens not to become involved in this, because they will be aiding and abetting in a crime. If any person is approached by an officer for this, call me at 482-GARY.”

Task Force officers were identified as the main culprits.

Griffith said after speaking with some patrons, they told him they were being charged between $600 and $1,000 for a police escort.

He also said he noted the registration numbers of the police vehicles involved in the incident and intended to bring disciplinary charges against his charges as soon as possible.

Responding to the circulation of an official police document, handed down from DCP Deodat Dulalchan, calling for an increase in patrols among various divisions, Griffith said the issue of officers failing to meet the necessary patrol time was brought to his attention.

Other senior officers also confirmed that false or “padded” numbers were being given them, and Griffith said official data was in contradiction after he reviewed GPS records.

Referring to the Port of Spain Division, he said out of the ten Emergency Response vehicles allocated, at any given time only two were on patrol, where other divisions like the Southwestern Division were making full use of the vehicles.

Griffith said in order to prevent this, he would be setting up GPS stations to closely monitor the movement of police vehicles to ensure maximum productivity among his subordinates.

“There were some divisions that did exceptionally well with patrols and made the best use of the resources available, and then there were others where it was clear the numbers given to us were not what we were seeing on the screen.

“Using these new technologies, we will be able to tell where these vehicles are, how fast they are going, if they are on their way to an emergency, whether they are stalling in one particular spot and so on.”

He also criticised the officer for sharing the document, saying certain information ought to be kept confidential within the police service.

“The police officer, or officers, who shared that document don’t belong in the service. Certain things must be kept confidential. How would the public feel if they went to make a report only to know the officer is going to share that information with some criminal?

“Whoever took that photo did it with the intent to send it to the media to make Mr Dulalchan look bad that he is asking them to do their duties.”