Police, Griffith under microscope

WITH at least three police officers facing the courts recently for various offences, as well as numerous police-involved shooting deaths of civilians, the Police Service Commission (PSC) initiated a three-week-long survey on the performance of the police service.

This is the first independent public survey done on the police service since CoP Gary Griffith took up leadership of the organisation in 2018. The police did their own survey in August last year, earning high marks. On September 2, Griffith said he received a “very good” rating in his first appraisal from the PSC, with a total of 81.69 marks.

Griffith was speaking at the media weekly briefing and informed the country of the police’s own public satisfaction survey.

That survey showed 76 per cent of those polled had confidence in him. The police’s 2019 phone survey gave him a 65 per cent approval rating and 95 per cent of the participants supported the police’s initiatives.

Griffith said a poll by Nigel Henry showed the country had confidence in the police and that confidence had increase under his management.

SERVICE PLAGUED

In the past months, the police service has been plagued with criticism brought on by perceived wrongdoings. These incidents include the supposed mishandling of domestic violence reports;

the shooting deaths of three men in Morvant;

the shooting death of a pregnant woman in Beetham Gardens;

video recordings of theft during a police-led operation and;

three police officers were charged recently for attempted murder, sexual assault and robbery in three separate cases.

The PSC’s “Public Trust, Confidence and Satisfaction Survey” began on Wednesday and ends on November 4.

It will be available online. A job satisfaction survey will be done for the entire police service, including both officers and civilian staff.

In its media release on Monday, the PSC said the purpose of the survey will be to “collect information on a wide range of critical issues related to public perception of the police service. These include citizens’ satisfaction with policing, trust and confidence in the police, police legitimacy and fear of crime.”

The survey will have 25 questions and can be accessed at the link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspxid=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAO__TLMB0xUOFRZVzdPV1pIMlpNR1ZKTlcwV1QyWjI1Ri4u.

DCP POSTS VACANT

The commission will use the survey to fulfil its mandate of monitoring the efficiency and effectiveness of Griffith and his three deputy commissioners (DCPs).

The PSC recently invited suitable applicants to apply for the vacant positions of DCP, as the positions are all occupied by junior-ranked officers who are acting in the positions.

“The results from the survey form part of the annual performance appraisal of the Commissioner and DCPs. The findings also provide the PSC with insight into what needs to be done to improve the service provided by the TTPS. They identify the areas in the police service that are working well and those areas which require improvement in ensuring the safety and security of the people of TT,” the PSC release stated.

For the online satisfaction survey done by the police in 2019, 1,225 people were polled, with 59.3 per cent rating the police as good and above. There were five categories, ranging from poor to excellent.

A total of 22.2 per cent of those polled said they were poorly satisfied with the police, with 7.9 per cent rating them as excellent. Fifty-five per cent said they were confident in the police.

Last year’s survey showed that women rated Griffith higher than men who took the survey.

Of the 723 people surveyed by phone, 65 per cent rated him as either excellent or very good, and 14 per cent said they had no confidence in the police.