(Trinidad Express) Forty police officers ranging in rank from Inspector to Constable will take up duty at various police stations along the East-west Corridor after being transferred from the St Joseph Police Station.
The revamping of the station took effect from yesterday and will see recent recruits along with Special Reserve Police taking up posts at the station.
The officers who have been transferred were ordered back into uniform and will resume duties at Pinto Police Post, San Rafael Police Station and other stations in the Eastern Division.
Five officers who were recently transferred to the St Joseph Police Station will continue duties there.
The transfers took effect following Saturday’s find of drugs, a cache of seven guns and a large quantity of ammunition in the ceiling of the St Joseph station.
Following the find, Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert mandated ASP John Martinez to investigate the matter.
The find was made on Saturday after officers of the Criminal Investigative Unit (CIU) raided the station.
The station was then placed on a temporary lock-down. Sources say the senior officer in whose office the find was made has been transferred to the Tunapuna Police Station while the Inspector has taken up duty at the Arima Police Station.
Sources say that information passed on to CIU stated that the items were confiscated in raids and not lodged into evidence.
The information about the items, a source said, was then passed on to a senior officer who heads a tactical unit in the Northern Division.
The senior officer who has 12 years service and has been attached to the Eastern Division then alerted his seniors in the Port of Spain Division to what was taking place. Following the discovery two constables have been transferred to the tactical unit.
However, several affected officers have voiced their displeasure over the transfers, deeming them unfair.
“Officers who recently came out on leave have also been transferred and this is not fair,” one officer said.
Noting there have been unscrupulous dealings within the station over a period of time involving police officers, the officer claimed senior officials were aware of this and have turned a blind eye to the matter.
Sources say with the ongoing investigation they expect the homes of several police officers to be searched.
Adding its voice to the issue, the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce called on Philbert to “act decisively to weed out all corrupt practices in the Police Service if he wants to build public confidence and trust in his officers.”
In a release issued on Monday, Chamber president Angella Persad said the confiscation of “guns, ammunition and drugs found hidden in the ceiling of the St Joseph Police Station is cause for serious alarm and concern among members of the public.”
“It is imperative that offending officers are brought to justice post haste and penalised to the full extent of the law with maximum accountability and transparency of the public,” she said.
Noting that citizens deserve and demand “a Police Service which is committed to ridding the country of crime and corruption,” Persad said: “The Chamber thus reiterates its call for zero tolerance against crime wherever it may be and most specifically when it occurs within the Police Service.”
