(Trinidad Guardian) Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley says the independence of the office of the Commissioner of Police is now under threat. Rowley said newly-appointed Minister of National Security Jack Warner was undermining and terrorising Canadian-born Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs and Jack Ewatski. He was speaking yesterday at a media conference at the Office of the Opposition Leader in Port-of-Spain. Warner has reportedly said he is seeking to buy out the remainder of the three-year contracts of Gibbs and Ewatski. Rowley described Warner as a “maverick minister,” and said he did not have the authority to move Gibbs and appoint Deputy Commissioner Stephen Williams to the top post. He said Warner was “a rampant Minister of National Security who seems to think that he could run government business in Trinidad and Tobago the way he ran FIFA.”
Rowley said even if there was no one in FIFA to prevent him from what he did, “There are people in Trinidad and Tobago who will prevent him from doing that. “We will not surrender to a Minister of National Security because his PR (public relations) calls him ‘action man.’”
Rowley said the Opposition was taking issue with Warner over his actions since assuming office three weeks ago. He said the selection of a Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner was the responsibility of the Police Service Commission (PSC). Gibbs and Ewatski’s contracts will expire next year. Rowley said Warner’s public statements on the matter “could have the damaging effect of causing these officers to behave in a certain way.”
Warner also said he was not in support of Gibbs’ 21st-century policing initiative, but Gibbs is insisting he will go ahead with the measure. Rowley said this would only lead to confusion and the unapprehended criminal would be the only beneficiary. He said Warner’s proposal to allow every officer to have a car to go home with will require a significant increase in police vehicles, and he wanted to know if the proposal was that of the Cabinet or Warner alone. “We are concerned about this development,” Rowley added. He said it will do “nothing more than further demoralise the police service.”
Rowley said Warner cannot act properly because his agenda is different from everybody else’s. He argued that the PM must take the blame for the state of confusion within the National Security Ministry and the Police Service and should rein in Warner. He also spoke out against another proposed initiative by Warner to let all police officers take their guns home. “The problem in Trinidad and Tobago is that there are too many guns on the streets, criminal guns and police guns,” he said. He said that proposal should be implemented only after careful consideration by the National Security Council, which includes the Commissioner of Police.
Rowley said it was not for a politician to override these procedures and make these “vaps announcements.”
