(Trinidad Express) Wealthy businesspeople are grooming police officers for favours, says acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob.
And he has cautioned officers that there are persons in society who may take advantage of them because of their profession.
In an interview with the Sunday Express last week Saturday, Jacob said the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) had been made aware in recent times that there were members of society, especially businessmen and persons of wealth, who would “befriend” officers in their communities, with the hopes of securing favours at a later date.
Later on, the officers would execute actions for said favours and, because of this, would often fall within the scope of the TTPS Professional Standards Bureau (PSB), headed by W-Superintendent Suzette Martin.
However, when the dust settled, the officers were the only ones being charged for their misbehaviour while holding a public office, while the individuals who would have encouraged such behaviour were not contested, Jacob said, warning this will no longer be the case.
“Take for instance, we have observed several situations recently where we are seeing persons, especially businessmen in the various communities throughout this country, befriending officers for favours, especially younger officers, as they enter or are coming into the service.
“They will become friends with them, and provide incentives, whether it be financially or what have you, to ensure that when they call for these favours, it is done without question.
“They are essentially grooming them, for all intents and purposes, and putting them (officers) in a fiduciary situation, where the officers will be engaged in corrupt practices.
“I want to issue a warning now—we will investigate all officers involved in such practices, and all those who they are affiliated with. We will not tolerate any corruption in the service, because it not only affects the performance of that officer or station, but it impacts how the public treats with the service as a whole,” Jacob said.
Jacob also said “extra-duty rackets” were being scrutinised.
“There is a system in place which moved away from the manual system of payment for extra duty. This new system sees payments being made directly to the bank in a particular account. This was the first system implemented to cut down on or reduce the opportunity for corruption in relation to extra duties carried out by police,” Jacob said.
He said in the past three years the TTPS has arrested several persons for such rackets, with specific mention being made of a case which was reported last September.
Then, criminal charges were laid against four men, including three police officers, for their alleged role in a police vehicle larceny and extra-duty racket.
Insp Dean Antoine, 53, PC Videsh Oudit, 32, PC Vishal Heeralal, 28, and civilian Shane Veesh Heeralal, 28, were charged following an investigation into the unlawful use of police vehicles in a private capacity as escort vehicles in exchange for monetary compensation.
An audit in June of the TTPS’ fleet led to the discovery of several vehicles being unaccounted for.
At the time, Insp Antoine was on pre-retirement leave, while PCs Oudit and Heeralal were last assigned to Guapo Police Station and the Penal CID, respectively.
Antoine was charged with conspiracy to defraud the Government; while Oudit was charged with conspiracy to defraud the Government and ten counts of misbehaviour in public office.
PC Heeralal was charged with conspiracy to defraud the Government and possession of a stolen police vehicle, while Shane Heeralal was charged with conspiracy to defraud the Government and possession of a stolen police vehicle.
