Griffith: Police did not negotiate with ‘persons of interest’

SHANE SUPERVILLE

There was no negotiation or bargaining at last Friday's meeting between the police and several reputed gang members, said Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith.

Last week a message was circulated on WhatsApp which purported that warring gangs in east Port of Spain and Laventille were preparing for an all-out conflict.

A video was also circulated of a man threatening a reputed gang leader in Laventille, saying he had weapons to "deal with" the man.

The video and the message prompted the police to hold a meeting with several people they described as "persons of interest" at a police station on Friday night.

Speaking with Newsday on Monday, Griffith said the purpose of the meeting was to make it clear to criminal gangs that any violent activity would not be tolerated, and it did not resemble previous interactions between the authorities and suspected gang leaders.

"Unlike what you would have seen in the past where prime ministers, senior officers would have pulled in people to communicate, plead with them, sometimes even offer them incentives, this was the opposite."

In September 2006 Prime Minister Patrick Manning met with at least 21 reputed gang leaders, described as "community leaders," at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port of Spain.
In 2012 former national security minister Jack Warner reportedly met with two gang leaders along with former Port of Spain mayor Louis Lee Sing. Warner later claimed he was duped into attending the meeting and did not know the two men would be present.

But Griffith said of his meeting, "This was us virtually threatening them (suspected gang members). This was me pulling them in and letting them know exactly what is going on. The pull-in was to let the relevant heads know that the police would become very confrontational and we will go on the offence to prevent any possible confrontation between warring factions."

Also at the meeting were representatives from the Special Operations Response Team (SORT), the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB), the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) and the Port of Spain CID.

A senior officer in the Port of Spain Division said he spoke with some of the men who were detained, who dismissed the WhatsApp message as "old talk," but maintained the police were prepared to tackle any violent clashes between gangs.

"I spoke to one of the leaders who said he just wanted to be left alone and didn't want to get into any confrontation with anyone.

"Another well-known person said he never threatened to be part of anything and maintained his lawyer was on standby.

"Based on what they said, there doesn't seem to be much merit to this message circulating. But we can't just take their word for it, obviously, so we will continue to do what we are doing."

One officer in the IATF said several people were detained and taken to the St Joseph station, where they remained until Sunday.
He said areas in east Port of Spain and Laventille were relatively peaceful after a series of protests in these areas in response to police killings last June.

"We, the police, had no intelligence to back up reports of a brewing gang war. But we are still keeping our eyes and ears open.
"The people who we spoke to also thought the message was just rumours and old talk but we are still doing our part."

On Saturday, dancehall artiste Taryl "Prince Swanny" Swan, through his legal team, denied reports that he was involved in any "war" and distanced himself from those claims. His team said the artiste was committed to promoting peace and positivity.