Police officers — protectors or killers

THE EDITOR: “To Protect and Serve.” This is the motto of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. I wish to emphasise the word protect as it implies that it is the Police Force’s duty to guard the citizens of this country. Yet recent headlines has transparently shown that some members of the police force have gone on, what some would call, a “shooting rampage” and slaughtered innocent people.

It has me wondering what type of Psychosomatic Evaluation is done for the enrollment as a police officer and how effective this evaluation actually is. You simply cannot have an emotionally-imbalanced person having the legal authority to carry and fire a gun. It seems to me that the Police Force has an abundance of “gun-toting hooligans” who think that they have the right to blow your head off if you anger them.

My question is, what is the government prepared to do with officers who take advantage of their legal privileges? Are they simply going to write the offence off as defence to an aggravated assault by the innocent party or are they actually going to let justice be served once and for all?

In my opinion we will never get a straight-forward answer because the government of today is renowned for their pretexts and defending their own kind. It is a very disconcerting thought if you actually compare the notion of being kidnapped or being a victim of police brutality. To me there is no difference at all.

AMY-LEIGH JAGROOP
Chaguanas