Top cops says: Report corrupt police officers

He was speaking at a town meeting hosted by Northern Division police at the Malabar Community Centre, Arima. “We do not want them to be perpetrating the same behaviour over and over. We do not want persons to aid and abet in making police officers corrupt. We don’t want that, because at the end of the day, we are the custodians of the law and we carry a very serious responsibility and we need to operate and be beyond reproach.” Dulalchan said while police officers were expected to abide by their oath, the public also had a responsibility to ensure that they are not “part and parcel of corrupting the local police.” He made the appeal in response to a question during the open forum about citizens’ perceived lack of confidence in the police. A resident, who did not want to give his name, told Dulalchan and other First Division officers many people were afraid to come forward with information for fear of being murdered.

“ It is hard to give information knowing how the country is right now. You say something and next few days they pick you up dead somewhere.

So it is very hard to get that communication going between police and citizens right now. What you think cause that? Because you cannot trust the police.” The man said although the majority of police officers were upholding their responsibilities, “I also met a few in between that are not good and are corrupt.” Dulalchan said once information came to the police, it would be acted upon. “The Police Service is not as perfect as we would want, but I can safely tell you that it is one of the organisations, once information comes to us in relation to any serious criminal misconduct, we would fix matters and we wouldn’t spare no time in dealing with those investigations,” he said.

“In fact, it is one of the organisations where there is an entire body that is called the Police Complaints Authority that oversees all of the investigations we do and our conduct as an organisation.” Dulalchan said the police would continue to engage members of the public for feedback.

“We continue to speak to our officers, because we quite agree on the importance of trust and confidence, because that goes a long way in terms of the relationship,” he said.

“But I think it is also important for me to tell you that the successes that we would have had as an organisation over the years would have been because of the trust the general public has.” As an example, he said the police had recovered some 342 guns from the streets for the year so far.

“That is because of the confidence the general public has in the local police. So whilst I agree that there might be a little pocket here and there, I think the time has come when we have to, as a community and as a citizen, if we see something, we need to say something,” he said.

Dulalchan said people who did not have confidence in their local police could call anonymously at 500-555 or 800-TIPS.