CoP to create 'PH' taxi database

POLICE COMMISSIONER Gary Griffith announced on Thursday that the police will create a database of private hire (PH) drivers to monitor people of interest with criminal records who engage in illegal activity.

At a media briefing at the Police Administration Building, Sackville Street, Port of Spain, Griffith said: "If we continue to bring real value to the stop-and-search forms, officers can visit taxi stands and fill out these forms. That way we can have a PH database, and with that database we can draw reference and see which drivers have criminal records so we can keep monitoring people of interest."

Griffith said he will be speaking with his officers to discuss creating the database. He did not say how soon this will be done.

Last year the Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Works and Transport and the Office of the Attorney General to find a way to regulate PH taxis. Dr Rowley told the media, after the murder of 18-year-old schoolgirl Ashanti Riley in December last year, that there is need for a system to control the illegal industry.

“I think we need a system of authority and control to be able to exclude undesirable elements. We need a system that permits, identifies and approves who can ply a vehicle for hire. Some system that is enforceable.”

Riley was picked up by a PH taxi near her home on November 29, and her body was found on December 4. A 32-year-old man, Luciano Quash, is charged with her murder.

Bharatt entered a white Nissan Versa on January 29 to go to her Arima home. The car had a false “H” licence plate. Her body was found over a precipice at the Heights of Aripo on Thursday.

Two men and a woman are in police custody in relation to her disappearance and death.

Another suspect is in the Intensive Care Unit at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex after, police said, he was injured while being subdued after an escape attempt.

Another died at the Arima hospital. Police claimed he was subdued after acting erratically and fell three times, once off a chair at the hospital. He was diabetic and hypertensive and police claim he refused food.