Police, Govt ministers must be held accountable

THE EDITOR: It is plain for all to see the erosion of the entire justice machinery in TT. Many citizens have written about the sordid state of affairs that exists with police cold-blooded killings and the reluctance of the Director of Public Prosecutions to move quickly and bring evildoers to trial. Is his department understaffed?

Police officers who shoot to kill in cold blood are equal to bandits and criminals who roam our cities and villages. There are so many more legal cases and trials where criminals are set free on technicalities and in some cases, not even brought to trial. Take for instance the freeing of the two Barbados fishermen in the height of the fishing dispute between our country and Barbados. It has been over two and a half months and the Minister and his minions responsible for this travesty of justice have not yet been investigated.

How come a government minister can give out instructions to the police prosecutor who is representing the State to drop the charges against the Barbados fishermen? Is there one law for police who shoot to kill innocent citizens and another for ministers of government who are accustomed to the cocktail circuit? As citizens of this country we deserve answers now before we end up like Grenada and Haiti with “mongoose gangs” and “ton-ton macoutes” running the place!

DR CHRIS MAHADEO
Port-of-Spain