Alexander joins CoP on Beyond the Tape

FROM Monday viewers of TV6’s Beyond the Tape will be greeted with a double team long anticipated of Police Commissioner Gary Griffith and recently re-instated ASP Roger Alexander.

Alexander was on suspension after he was charged with assault but was freed earlier this month and will return to the North Eastern Division where he led the task force. Alexander and his co-accused constable Sheldon Mires were charged with assaulting Christopher Charles in Santa Cruz in July 2016. After two years and 44 days they were freed. Alexander said then that he was eager to work with Griffith.

Speaking with Newsday, Alexander confirmed he was back on the television programme and will make his return debut with Griffith.

"I allow the justice system to do the work and to run its course. One of the most important things I learnt from this was watching how this unfold with me, I cannot put a man before this court unless I am ready from the first day the man appear in court," he said.

The State has appealed the case after it was dismissed without a witness giving evidence. The State produced 24 witness statements and tendered them into evidence against the officers. During the case, the State said it was troublesome to get in contact with three civilian witnesses, one of whom was Charles, who, it was reported, said he would contact the state attorneys when he was ready to proceed.

When he was freed on March 19, Alexander said: “Of course we are excited to work with Police Commissioner Griffith. When you look at crime-fighting you don’t look at it from any one angle you look at it from many angles.”

On Saturday, Alexander said he just wanted to serve his country and was grateful to be back in a position to do so. “We must be the line between the law-abiding citizens and the criminal elements. If the commissioner is out there standing up against the criminal elements then he must take all his generals and bring them side by side with him. This is a fight, this is a war and I am willing to stand side by side with him and war these people.”

Alexander made mention of the killing at a temple in Princes Town, earlier this week, where Joseph Narine, 60, died on the spot while pundit Shervon Narad was shot in the chest and is in stable but serious condition at San Fernando General Hospital. He highlighted that there were some in society who nitpick over what he considered minor issues while serious crimes are committed.