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T&T Police Caught Off Guard By Nationwide Roadblocks

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), Monday, announced an investigation into the nationwide roadblocks mounted by police officers that virtually crippled the country, affecting schools, businesses and the judiciary.

Deputy Police Commissioner Ann Marie Alleyne-Daly told a news conference that “there will be no further inconvenience of this nature” and apologized to the population promising “it will not happen again”.

The senior police officer said that with immediate effect only Police Divisional Commanders can authorize roadblocks, not Operational Inspectors.

She told reporters a probe had been launched to determine who was behind the roadblocks and that it would take at least two weeks for the report to be received.

Earlier, police communications manager, Ellen Lewis, speaking on radio here, said that the roadblocks had been planned well before Monday and were not part of any industrial action being planned by police officers to protest the slow pace of negotiations for salary increases.

She said that while some of the roadblocks were due to end early on Monday morning, motorists were calling radio and television stations complaining that they had been stuck in traffic for more than two hours.

“Those exercises were planned and scheduled…but all our exercises are intended to ensure we maintain law and order and, therefore, the public ought to be a bit understanding and considerate in this regard,” Lewis said.

Last week, the Secretary of the Police and Social Welfare Association (PSWA), Michael Seales, said that members have been complaining that since 2011 there has been no progress in the negotiations with the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO).

Seales said the basic salary of a junior police officer was TT$5,123 (One TT dollar =US$0.16 cents) and just about TT$1,000 more in benefits.

National Security Minister Carl Alfonso met with key stakeholders to resolve the wage impasse and a statement issued by the Ministry of National Security indicated that he also met with “Executives of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, so as to ensure that the traffic situation experienced last Friday and today on our nation’s roadways due to roadblocks is not repeated.”

Alfonso was also scheduled to meet with the National Security Council to discuss the impasse and will on Tuesday hold talks with the PSWA.

“The Minister and Government are expecting a prompt resolution to the impasse through tomorrow’s meeting,” the statement said.

The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce said it was objecting “strongly to the manner in which road blocks and search actions were undertaken…which effectively shut down the country.

The private sector group said that the loss of productive hours “is of particular concern at this time when Trinidad and Tobago is facing the challenge of decreased income from our main energy product and the Government is seeking ways to boost commercial enterprises.

“The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber questions whether the well-coordinated national action was in fact responsible policing. Further, the loss of man hours and the lack of productivity caused by today and last week’s actions have the potential to impact negatively on the overall competitiveness and image as a country “open for business”.

The Chamber said it wanted to remind the police that they “are highly dependent on an empathetic public to accomplish their goals of crime reduction. Actions that are effectively punitive to its publics will be inimical to its goals and objectives.”

Former national security minister, Gary Griffith, in a statement, said the “unfortunate development of the Police Service being forced to resort to such unacceptable measures, as they felt that their concerns were not being taken seriously, should never have reached to such a breaking point.”

He said he is aware of the critical needs of the police but “the virtual sabotage of the country by a few who conveniently authorized erratic road blocks all over the country at convenient times, hence virtually shutting down the country, must be condemned fully and disciplinary action on those responsible must be an option to prevent are occurrence.

“The flimsy red herring statement being made by the TTPS Welfare Association, shows either their misleading perception that the public is either naive to believe that their reckless action is considered as “Total Policing”, or that they are highly untrained in tactical law enforcement, as they are not aware that the basic role and function for a successful road block is the element of surprise, and for it to be short and sharp for effective results, as anything longer than 15 minutes, which I constantly stated as Minister of National Security, provides nothing other than causing undue burden and inconvenience to the law abiding citizens…”

The minority opposition Independent Liberal Party (ILP) condemned the “action being taken by police officers to shut down the country for the second consecutive work day by using a series of roadblocks.”

IPL leader Austin “Jack” Warner said the innocent public should not be made to pay the price for the dispute between the police and the government.

“Thousands of law-abiding citizens, including persons on their way to work and children heading to school, are imprisoned in vehicles that are stranded in the traffic. Several banks… have remained closed due to an absence of staff members who have just not been able to get to their workplace.”

Warner said that the suffering that is being exacted upon the commuting public is doing nothing to raise sympathy for the police in their cause to secure justified wage increases.

The action of the police also forced a number of workers to either report late for duty or stay away, disrupting also courts, schools and the state-owned Caribbean Airlines (CAL) said that the departures of several of its domestic and international flights were experiencing delays, due to a nationwide traffic gridlock in Trinidad and Tobago.

“The airline will waive date change penalties for any passengers who may be affected,” it said, urging passengers to check with agents or its website for further updates.

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