Contractors warned: Don't pay cops directly for police escorts

While investigators are frantically trying to find 65 police vehicles, equipped with sirens and flashing blue lights, some painted in police colours, a notice has been issued reminding them of the proper procedure for requesting police escorts to transport heavy machinery.

On Tuesday, a notice entitled Guidelines for Requesting Police Vehicles for Heavy Machinery was published which spelled out the process.

The notice follows the seizure of a marked police car on June 24, in Tableland, which was escorting heavy machinery belonging to the Laing Group of Companies. One of the directors of the company has a close relationship with a now retired deputy commissioner of police.

The driver of the car, a civilian, from St John's, Avocat has since been charged with uttering forged documents after he pretended to be a police officer.

An investigation revealed that the car, a Chevy Cruze, was removed from the Cumuto scrapyard, repaired and put back into use under the control of police officers acting outside the service.

Police are yet to determine how the civilian driver was also able to get a fleet fuel card from the police service authorising him to obtain fuel at the state's expense.

The probe has since been widened after national security intelligence agencies unearthed information suggesting marked police vehicles were to be used in a jailbreak plot to ferry away prisoners.

The guidelines for requesting a police escort say an application in writing or in person has to be made 24 hours in advance to the senior superintendent in charge of the relevant division.

It must list details such as the nature of the escort, the type of equipment to be transported, the contents of the container to be transported, the registration number of the vehicle transporting it, date, time and route of escort, and any hazard concerns.

Once the application is approved, the relevant fees must be paid to any First Citizens branch and the applicant has to forward proof of payment, with the bank's stamp.

Private companies should not engage police officers directly to perform such escort duties, the guidelines said.