REST DAY FLOPS

Of the 1,411 officers rostered for duty yesterday, only 271 of those officers failed to report for work.

In an immediate response to the 80 percent turnout of officers at all 14 police divisions, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar heaped praise on all the men and women who placed the country and citizens first, and she also thanked members of the Defence Force and the Auxiliary Services for their assistance in placing a security blanket over Trinidad and Tobago yesterday. “The entire nation expresses its pride at the demonstration of civic responsibility displayed by members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS).

“Ignoring calls for them to disregard their sworn duty to protect and serve and withhold their service, members of our disciplined Police Service, demonstrated a level of professionalism for which we are all proud. Our gratitude is also extended to the members of the Defence Force, and other auxiliary protective services who answered the call, where necessary,” Persad-Bissessar said in a statement.

The action by police officers stemmed from their refusal to accept Government’s offer of an enhanced salary package of a five percent increase in salary, a $1,000 a month tax-free allowance, housing allowance and other perks. This amounted to overall compensation increases of between 17 percent and 26 percent.

The Police Social and Welfare Division, which represents police officers, has stalled in its negotiations with the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) and government officials who have made appeals to them to accept the proposals in light of the prevailing slowdown in the economy. Persad-Bissessar yesterday called on the police trade union to resume the wage-talks.

“To the leaders of the unions representing the police, and all workers we extend an olive branch and a renewal of our call to return to the negotiating table. We are confident that this can be worked out together. There is no need for confrontation. We all stand to gain when we talk and we will all lose if we don’t.

“Let us move the process forward; the workers are our brothers and sisters whose interests must be held into account no less than that of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Common ground must and will be found,” she said.

Shortly after 5.30 pm yesterday, the Police Public Affairs Unit issued a release on behalf of Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs to state that Gibbs remains grateful to all those officers who placed Trinidad and Tobago first, and demonstrated their commitment to duty.

“The Commissioner of Police thanks the dedicated men and women of the TTPS who did not abandon their duties and responsibilities towards the law abiding citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. While there has been some measure of absenteeism, the general turn out in the divisions has been good,” the Public Affairs Unit stated.

It noted that in the Northern Division court services were affected, however, contingencies were put in place that ensured general policing services to the public continued without disruption.

The unit said in the Western Division absenteeism was not confined to one particular station or section, but distributed throughout the division. This allowed for adequate policing services to the public. The Northern and Western Divisions had the lowest turnout of officers, 30 percent and 43 percent respectively. Also echoing the sentiments expressed by the Prime Minister and the Commissioner of Police, Dr Suruj Rambachan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Communications, said, “The Government notes that today’s call for a day of ‘rest and reflection’ by a very few dispassionate personnel was met with very little response, and has in fact bolstered the image of the dedicated members of the police service as men and women who continue to rank amongst the nation’s finest.”

The release from Rambachan also noted that on an average day ten percent of officers are absent from duties, so today’s 20 percent absenteeism demonstrates that only a few officers heeded the call to “rest and reflect”.

Secretary of the Police Social and Welfare Association Sgt Michael Seales yesterday said his association had tried to dissuade officers from taking part in the day of “rest and reflection” in the first place. However, he is of the view that the figures released by the Government and police service do not truly represent what really occurred at all police divisions.

He said hundreds of special reserve police officers (SRP) were utilised at all stations, and he is calling on the Commissioner of Police to let the public know exactly how many SRPs turned up for duty yesterday, compared with the regular police officers.

However he maintained that his executive was not engaged in any decision-making regarding a day of “rest and reflection”.

Seales said, “We did not endorse any move to stay away from work and we want to make that clear, but we were told by the general council and the central committee of the association that they were not prepared to accept the five percent wage increase by the CPO, and a decision was taken to stay away from work.”

Efforts to reach president of the Police Association Sgt Anand Ramesar proved futile, since calls to his cellphone went unanswered.

Newsday understands that initial attempts to determine if any charges could be laid against Ramesar and others for allegedly inciting police officers to take sick out action have been shelved. Sources pointed out that Government is of the view that to do so will only cause conflict between the police and authorities.

According to statistics provided by the Ministry of National Security, police officers in the Northern Division had the highest absenteeism rate. According to the figures, 73 officers were rostered for duty in that division yesterday, however, 51 officers failed to turn up for work.

Despite this, senior officers from that division were able to utilise all manpower on hand, and stations as well as courts were properly manned. The second highest rate of absenteeism came from the Western Division, where 63 officers were rostered for duty, with 36 absenting themselves, while in the Central Division 31 officers out of 130 scheduled to report for work stayed away from the job. According to the statistics, in the Port-of-Spain and Southern Divisions and the Court and Process Branch each reflected absenteeism of 25 officers, while in Tobago out of 95 officers on the duty roster, 23 stayed away.

South-Western had 18 reported absent out of 152 officers, while in the North-Eastern division only 17 of the 106 officers were reported absent.

At the Police Traffic Branch and Highway Patrol only 12 of the 102 officers were absent, while the Port-of-Spain CID had a high turnout of officers, with only six of the 82 rostered for duty being absent.

The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) which had heeded the call a few months ago to “sick out”, did not take similar action yesterday with a high percentage turnout of officers.

Figures revealed that only six of the 82 officers from that task force did not show up for work yesterday. Even Guard and Emergency Branch personnel and officers of the Eastern Division demonstrated their commitment to duty by a full turnout.

Figures revealed that of the 67 officers of the GEB rostered for duty yesterday all turned up for work, and in the Eastern Division all 114 officers reported for duty.