CoP: Attorney tried to bribe police officer

THE police are investigating a report that an attorney allegedly tried to bribe a police officer.

Commissioner of Police (CoP) Gary Griffith revealed this during a virtual meeting held by the National Security joint select committee (JSC) on Monday.

In response to Griffith's comment about the alleged bribe, JSC chairman Fitzgerald Hinds said this seemed similar to an MP who previously told Parliament that he had to provide paper to officers at a particular police station to photocopy documents.

"That developed to a folklore where every police station did not have a copier, didn't have paper and it's a perennial problem," Hinds said. Griffith replied that while some people may be quick to claim that "police officers involved in such but they would not say all attorneys are involved in paying the police officers, and that is very interesting."

Reiterating the police's concern that proper bail legislation is not in place to prevent people charged with serious crimes from accessing bail, Griffith said, "Out of 70 charges, I just got the information here, there were only seven cases that were dismissed because of non-appearance of the police officers."

He added that the seven cases were related to "one police officer in Tobago." Griffith said under his watch "there has been a 93 per cent reduction in non-appearance of police officers in the last two years, in comparison to before my tour of duty." Regarding the outstanding seven per cent where officers may not attend court, Griffith said, "Every single occasion now that a police officer does not attend court, they must answer. Now we have put consequences and now we have provided a deterrent."

He also said there is an association which issues releases "telling us how to police but the perception of stating that it is because of police non-appearance, not true." Griffith said there was an instance where five different magistrates in different locations allowed a person to be released. "That has nothing to with the police. The magistrate would have seen dozens of charges by the individual, so you would have seen a track record."

He said situations like this has "caused a major problem to cause gang-related activities."

Griffith added, "When persons are aware that anyone will have easy access to bail, I am not going to come forward as a witness." He said this makes it difficult for the police to move forward with their case, because witnesses refuse to come forward and testify.

Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial warned that some of the comments being made during meeting could influence live matters before the court. But Hinds told her,"The sub judice principle goes a bit further than mere mention, you know. It really speaks to the question of attempting to influence the judge or the arbiter or the magistrate, to interference with their decision making."

He gave the assurance that everyone participating in the meeting would "all be cautious" in their comments. Lutchmedial indicated she was involved in some of the legal matters mentioned during the meeting. Griffith also said the police's witness protection programme has a 100 per cent record of no witness being injured of killed.