Police theft

When an office of the Police Service, the State agency with the mandate to protect and serve the country, can be burglarised, although the act may be an aberration, it nonetheless reflects on the credibility of the Service itself to provide needed security to the wider community. When the burglary takes place at the Police Stores, and bulletproof vests and Police uniforms are reportedly stolen it represents a potential threat, however small, to the security of the country. And with the relatively high incidence of serious crime in Trinidad and Tobago today, including murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and skirmishes between gangs, then the theft of the bulletproof vests may be a signal that criminals were planning to step up their activities and at the same time protect themselves from either fellow gangsters or Police officers in the event of shootouts.

Meanwhile, the theft of the uniforms is a more direct danger to citizens and Police officers as the uniforms can be used by bandits, pretending to be policemen, to gain entry into houses and/or business places with the intention of committing robberies or kidnappings. This poses a particularly uncomfortable problem as Trinidadians and Tobagonians conscious of the level of crime and naturally wishing protection may discover too late that the men in uniform may be common criminals. And worse, because of their trust in the uniforms worn by the men, may relax their vigilance enough to be easily overpowered. We share the view expressed by the secretary of the Police Welfare Association, Corporal Noel Chase, that it is a serious indictment on the Police Service. Corporal Chase has also made the point that the Police Stores being a sensitive area civilians should not be in charge.

We hope, however, that none of the civilian personnel at the Police Stores is being made a scapegoat in this shameful affair, however unintentionally, as the report which suggested a break-in has pointed to a clear lack of external and internal security. This means that the area in which items as critically important as bulletproof vests and Police uniforms were stored was underprotected and that the officers responsible for the area, and ipso facto everything lodged there, had lapsed. What is needed is the formulation of effective strategies designed to minimise illegal access to any division or section of the Police Service, with special emphasis on areas in which equipment or articles, for example, arms and ammunition, bulletproof vests, uniforms, confidential documents and fingerprint records, among others, are stored. Once formulated there will be need for early implementation.

If the Police Service, or rather any of its arms, is unable to properly protect itself, then its ability to protect and serve the wider community can be questioned. The Secretary of the Police Welfare Association has suggested a tightening up of measures which he has seen as necessary for security. But citizens, whether householders or businessmen, can protect themselves by adopting defensive postures. For example, where this is feasible, they should seek to note whether the men representing themselves as Police officers have their numbers affixed to their uniforms. In turn, if it is at all possible, contact should be made with the nearest Police Station. Meanwhile, official silence on the break-in at the Police Stores is disquieting, as what should be regarded as important here in this whole shameful incident, is not merely the items stolen nor for that matter their dollar value, but the fact that security could have been so readily breached.