Augustine knocks police release, denies arrest of Chief Sec employee

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has taken umbrage at an August 11 police media release which said an "employee of the Chief Secretary's Office" was held for alleged trafficking offences.

The release said on August 10 police on mobile patrol along Joefield Trace, Lambeau, spotted a heavily tinted car driving suspiciously. They stopped the car, which was being driven by a 30-year-old man.

Police said they searched the car and found a Glock pistol, 15 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 613 grammes of cannabis, 97 ecstasy pills, TT$410, US$14, EC$100, two shortwave radios, a vacuum sealer, one ski mask, several transparent packets, one digital scale and 27 SIM cards.

The man did not have a driver's permit and was not the car's registered owner. He was arrested and the vehicle impounded at the Scarborough Police Station.

But in a Facebook post on August 11, Augustine criticised the police and a media house (not Newsday) for their reports on the arrest. He said, "There is a difference between the Office of the Chief Secretary (OCS) and the 'Chief Secretary Office employee.' This poorly or perhaps maliciously faulty headline suggests that staff assigned to the Chief Secretary was arrested."

Writing in bold for emphasis, Augustine said no member of staff belonging to or assigned to the Chief Secretary was arrested.

He said the OCS was a division of the Tobago House of Assembly similar to the way the Office of the Prime Minister is a government ministry.

He said the OCS constitutes the departments of accounts, human resource (HR) contracts, director of HR (for the entire public service in Tobago), planning, TEMA, information division, procurement, internal audit, registry and properties, among others.

"This gentleman, whoever he is, could be working in any of these departments, but he is certainly not an officer in the Chief Secretary’s office. Please don’t mislead the public...

"On another note, thank you TTPS. Go after every criminal and get them and the guns off the streets. Turn the place upside down and grab hold of those that seek to threaten our way of life."