Too much power

Oropouche East MP, Dr Roodal Moonilal, is urging government to first reform the police service before giving them draconian powers by which citizens can be abused to create "a reign of terror."

“You are giving more powers to the police, draconian powers," he said in Parliament on Monday. "You should reform the police service before you even bring this kind of legislation.”

He opposed a proposed warrant to allow the police to do a search at any time as he made his contribution to the debate on the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) (Amendment)(No. 3) Bill, 2019.

“You leave it to the discretion of people who have no discretion,” he said.

Moonilal said in the real world of TT, a vindictive policeman may have a bee in his bonnet against a business man who had not supported his fund-raising event, and so subject him to multiple searches out of spite.

“When you search a business place or house you stigmatise the business. This is Trinidad,” Moonilal said, adding, "The business would collapse as onlookers would rightly or wrongly conclude the businessman was into drugs, human trafficking or firearm trafficking. “It happens. Businessmen tell you that all the time.”

Moonilal said police raids would shut down a business because customers would not want to be linked to it nor be caught up in any police raid there.

“You are coming now to give the police greater powers they can abuse, where we have had cases of abuse.”

Moonilal said the bill not only allowed the police to search multiple venues linked to a person, but also multiple times.

“This issue of multiple searches we hope is withdrawn immediately.” He said no amendment to the bill could cure the wide power the clause gave to the police.

He said the clause to allow the police to repeatedly go back into people’s places for multiple searches is a violation of a person's constitutional right to the protection of their property.

“This can create a police state.” He said in an unnamed country with such a law introduced, the first place raided was the Opposition’s office. “You don’t weaken the Constitution under the guise of the fight against crime.”

Rather than giving the police the power to raid a person five times a week, Moonilal urged the Government to instead upgrade the country’s court houses, which he described as operating like a former junior secondary school.

He described the trauma of a police raid. “It is like beasts descend on you.”

“Imagine when the family go to make a complaint to the PCA or the media, the police will say, ‘Okay, we are coming back again tomorrow.’”

Moonilal said the bill gave the police more powers and also lowered the threshold for them to exercise them. He questioned whether a magistrate’s role in deciding if to give a warrant was truly a safeguard against police abuse as the magistrate makes a decision based on what has been out before him by the police. Moonilal queried the Government’s legislative reform agenda in view of the recent local elections where they had got 40,000 fewer votes than the Opposition. He punned, “You will reform yourself out of office.”.

Moonilal said the Government had passed many laws but had failed to operationalise them. “That made no sense," he said.

“The Government is like a junior secondary school and very soon your shift will end.” He said recent flood victims in south and central Trinidad are aware of the apparent coming exit from office of the Government whom he accused of ignoring their plight.