“He never warned me… I never saw him”

Tobago-based Woman Special Reserve Police (SRP) Constable Avril Alleyne has refuted claims made by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) that she met with Police Commissioner Gary Griffith to discuss her conduct in connection with a Facebook post, and that she was asked to resign from the Service.

Last Thursday, the TTPS issued a press release stating that Alleyne was summoned to a meeting with Griffith following an offensive post on February 7 and that she tendered her resignation with immediate effect on February 11.

Speaking with Newsday Tobago on Friday, Alleyne, who was last attached to the Tobago Division, refuted the information contained in the TTPS press release.

“My resignation was pending a long time ago. 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.

“I feel no way, my conscience is clear. At the end of the day what I’m a bit upset about is that 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.

“I have no regrets about it 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,” she said.