(Trinidad Express) Police officers assigned to an elite unit known as the Repeat Offenders Programme Task Force (ROPTF) are alleged to be in collusion with—and, in some cases, controlled by—gangs in East Port of Spain.
And acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams says he is aware of such allegations regarding one officer attached to the unit, but did not know of other allegations linking ROPTF officers to gang members.
A Sunday Express investigation conducted over the past two months into the unit’s operations, follows allegations of gross misconduct against ROPTF officers by Laventille residents following the “kidnapping” of Keon “Guts” Glasgow in April this year. Glasgow, a Laventille resident, was taken by ROPTF officers.
To date, there has been no word on the whereabouts of the victim, and an investigation launched by the Anti-Kidnapping Squad into the incident is yet to be completed.
Residents had staged a fiery protest, demanding ROPTF officers say where they took Glasgow. Visiting the residents a few days later, then acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert and Deputy Commissioner of Police Gilbert Reyes heard the residents’ complaints of misconduct against the ROPTF.
Supt Edward Castillo, of the Port of Spain CID, was assigned to the unit’s office, upstairs the Besson Street Police Station, to manage its affairs. He was subsequently called back to duty at the CID front office.
The latest allegation against the unit followed the arrest, less than a week ago, of a 29-year-old Beetham Gardens gang leader, wanted by police for the past five years in connection with more than 20 gang-related murders in the East Port of Spain community.
The arrest was made on September 4 at a house at Beaulieu Drive, Trincity, by officers of the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) and the Northern and North Eastern Division Task Force. As it turned out, the lease agreement for the rented house carried the name of a female police officer as the lessee.
This female officer’s name also appears on the insurance for a Hyundai Tucson, a vehicle that was being used by the suspect. Police said the suspect, when questioned, said the female officer was his cousin.
The Hyundai Tucson was seized earlier this year by the Stolen Vehicles Squad and brought to the CID office. A well-known criminal was caught driving the vehicle in Port of Spain. The officer came and collected the SUV, and told officers she had loaned the vehicle to the man, a source said.
The Sunday Express was told the officer is also the relative of another gang leader who operates in the Bath and Basilon Streets, East Dry River, Port of Spain area, and is linked to the Beetham gang.
“He (Beetham gang leader) came into the (Bath Street) area and started to run things since Fresh (Kerwin ‘Fresh’ Phillips) get lick down a few years ago. Both ah them (Bath Street and Beetham gang leaders) is riding partners.
“This thing real serious up here, and they have ah lot of police connections so yuh better know who yuh talking to cause you too could be ah dead man,” a Bath Street resident said.
“Let’s put it this way, the officer is the sister of a notorious gang leader and a close associate of another gang leader, and both gang leaders are good friends. We also understand that there are several other officers connected to these two deadly gangsters,” an arresting officer commented.
“She there several years now and the seniors (officers) knew that she was connected to these gang members, because reports were submitted, but nothing was done about it,” one officer said.
Police also believe the officer may have leaked classified information regarding issues of national security to known criminals since she was subsequently transferred to another unit which dealt with criminal matters of a sensitive nature.
In another instance of allegations of collusion between ROPTF officers and gang members, sources said two reports, sent to the office of acting Commissioner of Police, then James Philbert, document an alleged incident in which an officer of the ROPTF tipped off a gang leader minutes before police turned up at his Bath Street apartment.
The Special Anti-Crime Unit of T&T (Sautt) on December 17, 2009, arranged an exercise which included officers from the CID, ROPTF, the Inter-Agency Task Force and the Port of Spain Division Task Force, to raid the gangster’s Bath Street apartment.
The suspect was wanted for questioning in connection with multiple gang-related murders and shootings.
When officers got to the suspect’s apartment, he was just about to leave the premises. Checks on his cellphone showed that five minutes before the officers arrived, the suspect received a phone call from a number assigned to the ROPTF office at the Besson Street Police Station.
The conversation between the caller and the gangster was also recorded; the officer was identified. Both the CID and Sautt submitted separate reports on the incident, sources said, but no action has been taken in the matter.
Police officers said up to yesterday, this particular officer was still assigned to ROPTF.
