Transport Commissioner, minister tell Chief Sec: No one above the law

TRANSPORT Commissioner Clive Clarke and Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan are reminding THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine that no one is above the law – including his family.
They have sought to reassure Tobagonians that road traffic exercises are meant to help protect the public, not "terrorise" them, as Augustine suggested.

Clarke and Sinanan were speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Works and Transport's head office in Port of Spain on Thursday afternoon.

Last week, over 600 tickets were issued to drivers for traffic violations in road-traffic enforcement exercises across Tobago.

During this, Augustine's wife – Taky-Ana Nedd-Augustine – was stopped and it was found that she did not have her driver's permit with her. Augustine confirmed this on TV6's Morning Edition programme on Thursday.

The exercises were a "co-ordinated effort" with Tobago police, Clarke said.

At a post-executive council media briefing on Wednesday at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex, Tobago, Augustine described the exercises as “disruptive.”

Augustine said while licensing officers must do their job, there are “serious challenges that (he) must echo on behalf of the people of Tobago and, certainly, on behalf of this government.

"It should never be that we have hordes of officers coming up from Trinidad to terrorise Tobagonians. That should never be the case.

“We are seeing people turning up for minor things (in which) we believe discretion could be used because, in the spirit of the law, there are discretionary powers assigned to the officers, and that seems to not exist in Tobago’s case.”

He added that it seems there is a “mad rush” to issue tickets.

The ministry's Tobago Division of the Motor Vehicle Authority has since issued a summary report on a joint road traffic enforcement and education exercise done in ten areas across the island between April 13 and 19.

The report said 692 fixed-penalty notices were issued to drivers, and 29 drivers were served with driver-disqualification notices owing to accumulated demerit points.

The exercises were carried out by police from the Scarborough Traffic Section, Task Force, Shirvan Police Station with support from officers from Roxborough and Charlotteville police stations together with police road safety co-ordinator Sgt Brent Batson and officers from the Licensing Division.

Clarke said during the educational exercise, 735 "pieces of literature" were distributed to drivers and passengers about road traffic safety.

In some instances, he said, officers went "door to door, house to house."

He said drivers with as many as 77 demerit points were found driving in Tobago, many driving without a driver's permit or using rented vehicles without the required insurance, and drivers using "defective vehicles."

He said these exercises are done daily in Trinidad and it is "absolutely necessary" to do the same in Tobago.

"I have a responsibility, together with law enforcement officers, to ensure persons' safety."

He said many Tobagonians welcomed them and many Tobagonian officers were part of the exercises.

"A high number of persons were pleased to know we were on the ground and doing something about the state of the driving practice within Tobago. We have gotten that level of support."

Clarke then spoke about the "incident" involving the Nedd-Augustine. He did not name her but said she was the wife of "someone in senior public office from Tobago."

He said the woman failed to identify herself, "and that is critical to us."

He said the officers were then approached by an unmarked vehicle "with blue flashing lights" and the occupants said they had come to the woman being questioned.

Eventually, Augustine also came to the scene.

When drivers who own a valid permit are caught driving without it, a charge for a summary offence can be issued once the person can show evidence they indeed own a valid permit. The driver is asked to pull over and either have someone with their licence on them to drive or for someone to bring their permit to them.

But by the time Augustine arrived, Clarke said, "We would have already verified the permit, so they were allowed to go."

He said neither he nor his officers showed bias or were influenced by anyone in straying from the law.

He said "under no circumstance" would he ever instruct an officer not to give someone a ticket when they had breached a law.

If he does, he said, "Ensure that I am looking for a job the next day...Write me up."

He said licensing officers operated with fairness, and he had asked them to be lenient in situations which might require that approach, as best as they can.

"But there are a lot of situations when we have to show a level of leniency and when we have to enforce.

"The law makes it very clear under section 56 that the driver must have that permit on your possession or in the vehicle."

He said the matter with Nedd-Augustine was "not yet closed,"  his division had six months to treat with it and was "deliberating how we will move forward with it."

Sinanan said said Augustine's comments on licensing officers were uncalled for, disappointing, unfortunate and an attempt to "damage the credibility and and operations" of the division.

"It is in the best interest of all of us if we can have a safer TT."

Sinanan said he first learnt of the comments when a journalist contacted him for feedback.

He said he found it hard to believe Augustine would say something like that and did not, until he saw a video.

"They're doing their job," he said. "No one, despite your stature, your relative status or whatever it is, should try in any way to demoralise the servicemen who are trying to make our lives safer."

He believes Augustine's comments were only made because of the "incident" outlined by Clarke.

He added that leaders should not be making comments such as Augustine's, given how tense the country was as it related to crime.

"It is clear that the Transport Commissioner is in charge of the licence offices and officers in both Trinidad and Tobago.

"I felt very disappointed to hear a senior statesman, politician, trying to give the impression that Trinidad officers were terrorising people in Tobago.

"This is law enforcement...No one is above the law, and if you're stopped on the road, there is a way to deal with it."

He said no one in "high office" or their relatives could "cancel a system that was put in place by the Parliament of TT. No one in public office or their family is above the law."

Sinanan said the THA's Secretary of Infrastructure Trevor James wrote to him asking for a meeting, which he had no problem with doing.

"But (I will) not influence officers and tell them how to do their job when it comes to law enforcement.

"We have to be responsible in the way we address certain things."

Adding that most crime in TT involved the use of a vehicle, "It is unfortunate that a statement like that could be made at this time, when we're trying to address crime in all its forms."

In the interview on Morning Edition, Augustine said he "sent (his) security officers to relieve her (Nedd-Augustine)."

He said she forgot her driver's permit at home and was on her way to pick up their daughter.

"The security branch officers, which are special branch officers, they were pulled over by licensing officers and licensing officers refused to allow them to give the licence to my wife...and it reached to the point where I had to show up, myself, to give her the licence and I'm saying that certainly is not the way we do business."

He said the matter was then settled and that Clarke "offered his apologies on how the matter was handled.

"My wife apart, the mere fact...I think the licensing officer should have just given a ticket if need be, because that's what the law requires, or they can use their sense of reasonableness (sic) and indicate, 'Okay, produce it in 24 hours.'"

He said some drivers were pulled aside for as long as 40 minutes.