SRP: 'I planned to resign long before'

KINNESHA GEORGE-HARRY

TOBAGO-BASED Spe­cial Re­serve Po­lice (SRP) constable Avril Alleyne has denied claims made by the police service (TTPS).

On Thursday, the police issued a press release saying Alleyne had been summoned to a meeting with Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith to discuss her conduct after claims of racial slurs, and that she had since res­ig­ned with im­me­di­ate effect on Feb­ru­ary 11.

This comes on the heels of comments made over the loss of a busi­ness place in To­ba­go, which a Tobago-based reporter shared on her Face­book page on Feb­ru­ary 7. It is alleged that Alleyne responded to the post via social media, and her response was deemed racially offensive.

It has since been removed.

Speaking with Newsday Tobago on Friday, Alleyne, who was last attached to the Tobago Division, denied the information contained in the press release, saying her resignation was pending a long time ago.

She said the last time I worked in Scar­bor­ough Po­lice Sta­tion and re­ceived a salary from the po­lice ser­vice was in No­vem­ber 2017.

"So I nev­er saw the com­mis­sion­er per­tain­ing to any, as they say, racist com­ments that I post­ed on Face­book. That nev­er hap­pened. He nev­er called me.

She said her con­science was clear, but she was upset because: "They said the com­mis­sion­er had to warn me.

"He nev­er warned me, he nev­er called my phone, I nev­er saw him. For them to say that I re­signed be­cause of a state­ment, that is not true."

She said she had no re­grets "be­cause my state­ment was not in­tend­ed to be racist to any­one. I quot­ed an old cliché. It is a say­ing that you would hear any­where, all over the place.”

President of the Police Social and Welfare Association Insp Michael Seales could not be reached for comment as all calls to his cellphone went unanswered.