Hinds: Griffith's leave is up to PSC

MINISTER of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds told Newsday on Tuesday he was unable to shed any light on whether former commissioner of police (CoP) Gary Griffith was entitled to take any leave under the law, as a person acting in the post he had hitherto held substantively.

Griffith is on vacation this week but until then was acting in the post after his contract as commissioner expired in August

Hinds said, "The matters that you have raised fall squarely within the domain of the Police Service Commission."

He said owing to his years of experience in the parliamentary and constitutional affairs of Trinidad and Tobago he knew the commission seeks and obtains legal advice.

"The matter you have raised falls within their domain, and all that they do is done on the basis of their traditional wisdom and on the basis of legal advice.

"So I would not, for the reasons I have stated, venture to comment on what they would have done or would not have done. I simply accept what comes from the PSC as a matter of confidence and course."

Newsday was unable to contact AG Faris Al-Rawi or PSC head Bliss Seepersad. Commission corporate communications officer Rae-Ann Harper-Walters promised to forward the query.