Geisha Kow­lessar

Pres­i­dent of the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice So­cial and Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion Cpl Em­rol Bruce is call­ing on Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar to re­ject the ap­point­ment of a for­eign­er as Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice. Bruce made the ap­peal at a news brief­ing held at the Besson Street Po­lice Sta­tion in Port-of-Spain yes­ter­day.

"The as­so­ci­a­tion, the Po­lice Re­tirees As­so­ci­a­tion and oth­er in­ter­est­ed groups, are ask­ing the prime min­is­ter to use her pow­er of ve­to in the Par­lia­ment to re­ject the nom­i­nat­ed for­eign­er for the post of Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er," Bruce said. He al­so warned there would be "some lev­el of re­sis­tance" by its mem­bers to the se­lec­tion of Cana­di­an Neal Park­er. "The as­so­ci­a­tion and mem­bers of the Po­lice Ser­vice are not pre­pared to ac­cept the im­po­si­tion of a for­eign com­mis­sion­er in­to the ser­vice. "If that is al­lowed to hap­pen then there would be some lev­el of re­sis­tance," Bruce said.

Ac­cord­ing to Bruce, the se­lec­tion cri­te­ria for choos­ing a po­lice com­mis­sion­er may be flawed as Stephen Williams, who held the same rank as act­ing Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er James Philbert and was se­lect­ed by Penn State Uni­ver­si­ty for the post of com­mis­sion­er, was re­ject­ed by the Par­lia­ment. The Gov­ern­ment has an­nounced that the pro­pos­al on Park­er would be tak­en to Par­lia­ment next Fri­day.