Griffith hits posting of Tobago "zesser party" women's info online

AFTER at least one NGO and several social media commentators on Monday hit videos posted online of police officers recording the private information of women held during a "zesser" party in Tobago, Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith has called on the person/s posting said videos to pull them from social media immediately.

He said it was unfortunate that a video recording of police officers questioning the women at a party on weekend was uploaded to social media. Griffith said what the officers were doing was not abnormal and was routine procedure during regular road blocks and other exercises.

What was disturbing, he said, was that the personal information of the women, in particular their names and addresses were revealed on social media.

In the video, the women are recorded stating their names, date of birth and their home addresses to an unseen policeman. In some cases, the policeman asks the woman standing before him to pull off their face mask thus making their faces clearly visible as the video recording continues.

Griffith, contacted for comment on Monday afternoon, said posting the video online should not have been done especially at a time when women and girls are being reported missing and there have been reports of attacks on women, some of which have resulted in sexual assault and in other cases, murder.

"Whoever posted this, I am asking you to take it down immediately and to desist from spreading this information. I want to assure the public that a full investigation will be carried out to determine who uploaded such sensitive information in the public domain," Griffith said.