FORMER police commissioner Gary Griffith says that police officers use standard operation procedures in the conduct of their duties.
He was responding to the Independent Senator Hazel Thompson-Ahye who during the Budget debate suggested that more emphasis was placed on crimes such as housebreaking committed by black youth as opposed to white-collar crime.
Thompson-Ahye said, “If the boys who were made to lie in the mud in Sea Lots were of a different hue or class, they would not have been treated like that.”
Griffith who was commissioner at the time had held the youths in Sea Lots for being in breach of Covid-19 regulations said it was simply standard police protocol used around the world when police officers were facing numerical superiority when attempting to control persons who are breaking the law.
In a release on Thursday, the political leader of the National Transformation Alliance, said, “This is done primarily to protect the lives of officers, who could come face to face with an armed individual among the group. The temporary sacrifice of the group’s “dignity” is a small price to pay to preserve the lives of hard-working officers.
“To every police officer, I call on you to reject the Senator’s speech, do not second guess yourselves, and continue to follow Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), to preserve your life, and the lives of your colleagues when faced with the real danger posed when police are outnumbered while making mass arrests.
“The Senator should be reminded that similar occured at the Residence Nightclub when officers raided the posh spot and had some 70-plus persons lying on the floor. This was also the case when the rumoured stepdaughter of a senior government official was also made to lie on the ground during her arrest. In all three instances, the party of officers were of the same hue and ethnicity of the group from Sea Lots, so race and color do not enter the conversation.
“The irony of Thompson-Ahye’s commentary is that the young persons who were made to lie on the ground at Sea Lots were never charged, but the ones at Residence Nightclub were charged, even though both groups were perceived to be breaking the law at the time.”
He said he agreed with Thompson-Ahye about the lack of emphasis on white-collar crime.
Griffith said, “That is why I formed the White-Collar Crime Unit by merging the Cybercrime Unit, FIB, ACIB, and Fraud Squad, which proved to be so effective that we saw the arrests of politicians, including government officials. She also spoke about vetted units, and here again, it was done during my tenure.
“Unfortunately, because of political interference, the White-Collar Crime Unit has been focused on a witch-hunt these past two years aimed at legal firearms. After all this time, not one senior police officer, firearms dealer, or FUL holder has been arrested however, and this is a pattern of political influence that has seen many effective crime-fighting units, plans, and policies starved for funding or simply shut down.”
He added, “I would also like to remind Thompson-Ahye and the wider public that the TTPS was one of the few law enforcement agencies throughout the world that did not have one single report of abuse of power during the pandemic.”
Griffith said, “I can safely say that race, ethnicity, and colour play no role in how police officers do their jobs. They do so professionally and with only the law in mind. So, to Independent Senator Thompson-Ahye, I urge you to retract your commentary, and for all of our sakes, please refrain from making statements that only serve to further divide our country.”
