Tobago Business Chamber calls on PSC to appoint acting CoP during probe

THE TOBAGO Business Chamber is urging the Police Service Commission (PSC) to send Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher on administrative leave immediately, pending the outcome of a criminal investigation involving the importation of two military-grade sniper weapons for the Strategic Services Agency (SSA).

It also wants the commission to appoint an acting police commissioner during the probe.

“We need that type of decisive leadership now,” the chamber’s chairman Martin George said in a video sent to media houses via WhatsApp on January 31.

Harewood-Christopher, Trinidad and Tobago’s first female police commissioner, was arrested on January 30 at her office at the Police Administration Building, Sackville Street, Port of Spain.

Former director of the SSA retired Major Roger Best was arrested at his Arima home in connection with the importation of the weapons on January 29.

The top cop’s arrest, at the height of a state of emergency, has sent shock waves throughout the police service and other sectors of society, with some calling for her to be replaced.

George, an attorney and former member of the PSC, said the development has placed the police service and country in an embarrassing position.

“The current imbroglio which has engulfed the TTPS by the arrest and detention of the sitting commissioner of police is of course, a very embarrassing scenario for us all as citizens of TT,” he said.

“It is an embarrassment for our entire national security apparatus because we have heard that the former head of the SSA has also been arrested."

At this point, George said, “It is desperately necessary for the PSC to step up to the plate and seek to immediately restore public trust and confidence in the police service.

“If it is that the police commissioner is being questioned in relation to certain alleged offences, then it may be prudent for the PSC at this time to issue a directive sending her on administrative leave immediately and making steps to appoint an acting commissioner in her stead.”

George said the situation cannot be ignored.

“There have been previous iterations of the PSC, which have chosen to remain numb and dumb in the face of raging crises within the service. This is not an option anymore.”

He also said the National Security Council, headed by the Prime Minister, must make “a clear, decisive statement on the matter.

“It would appear this time that we are operating in a rudderless manner without guidance, without direction, without leadership, without any head directing and controlling the operations of our national security apparatus and that is not good for Trinidad and Tobago, particularly while we are under a state of emergency.

“So this is the time for people to step up, perform their constitutional duty and ensure that you bring back that level of clarity and direction to the national security apparatus because at this point it would appear that instead of us having a state of national security, we are all functioning in a state of national insecurity.”

Dr Rowley, on January 31, said while he was disappointed by the arrest of the CoP, the government had no role in the matter. He said the police and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had the responsibility to ensure a fair investigation.

He said the PSC would act if the CoP was "indicted in any way."

There has been no response to questions sent to the secretariat of the PSC.