THE sterling and dedicated efforts of the vast majority of police officers are often eclipsed by the negative sentiments against a minority of corrupt officers.
This was the comment of Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher in a statement on Wednesday.
She said, “It is unfortunate that it is at all possible that their sterling efforts at protecting and serving are often eclipsed by the negative sentiments created by the conduct of a minority.”
Harewood-Christopher said in 2022, 36 officers were charged stemming from 79 offences and for 2023 to date, 19 officers have been charged stemming from 51 offences. The Professional Standards Bureau was also currently investigating 109 reports, she said.
She said, “It is undeniable that the TTPS is not the perfect organization and from time-to- time experiences discreditable conduct amongst its ranks. While the TTPS is not unique as an organisation in that regard, we take no comfort in that fact, because we understand our role and appreciate that as a law enforcement agency, to whom much is given, much is required.
“As a result, we apply a very stringent recruitment process, requiring candidates to undergo a robust vetting process and we publish information in the newspapers to facilitate feedback from the public that will allow us to disqualify undesirable candidates before they are selected.
“We find allegations of corruption against police officers to be undesirable and wholly inconsistent with our mandate. It is for this reason that we are consistent and deliberate in treating with any such cases promptly. We understand very well that such discreditable conduct operates to undermine our very legitimacy and our deliberate efforts to build public trust and confidence in the TTPS.”
She said her record would indicate a zero tolerance on police misconduct and gave the assurance that the TTPS will continue its deliberate work of ridding the service of officers that prove themselves unfit to be police officers.
Harewood-Christopher said, “It is also incumbent on me to appeal to citizens to resist the temptation of making unsubstantiated statements about perceived police corruption that serve only to discredit the police and embolden the criminal element, thereby making it so much more difficult for the police to get the public’s cooperation in the fight against crime.”
What about the presumption of innocent until proven guilty. It is bold and insensitive to refer to the officers charged as corrupt when in reality the CoP together with psb will do anything to look good in the eyes of the public including botched investigations resulting in innocent officers being charged. #distracting the public for failure to deal with crime.
Did Erla include the head of the PSB SEN SUPT MARTIN in this metric. The COP must now tell us the percentages that were 1st and 2nd officers. I doubt all 1st division officers are honest officers.