Gary Griffith has issued a statement concerning recent developments since his decision to reapply for the post of Commissioner of Police at the end of his term in office.
In the statement, the former top cop says categorically:
“I have no fight with neither the Government nor any independent institution in the country… My fight is with the process and with the fact that the Police Service Commission’s action was a direct attack on my integrity.”
The following is the full text of the statement, which was posted on his Facebook page, and which has been circulating in social media…
This is not about me. I never wanted nor will I ever want a job to the point that I am prepared to damage the country of Trinidad and Tobago to get it.
It is clear that people still don’t get Gary Griffith. I am actually quite simple at my core. I’m a hard worker, a doer and a patriot; my country always comes first.
What I stood up for was an unfair suspension at the hands of the Police Service Commission which cast a cloud of suspicion over me without even describing what the suspicion was about, or for that matter, what the suspension was about. I could therefore only assume it was based on hearsay and the view of a one-man minority report which up to this day, no one but the Express, has apparently seen. Not a shred of evidence has been presented to me and I have not been called upon to answer or explain any specific accusation. My fight is with the process and with the fact that the Police Service Commission’s action was a direct attack on my integrity. Would anyone appreciate being accused of a serious issue based on hearsay and bacchanal? Surely this cannot be the way an independent institution does things. To this day as I write no one in the PSC has asked me to answer anything. I was just given a suspension letter signed by the Chairman with no explanation as to why. I was therefore placed in a situation that was untenable and I could not just sit back and allow this to happen.
I have no fight with neither the Government nor any independent institution in the country.
My position is actually quite simple. What is best for Trinidad and Tobago is what I support.
I believe I can contribute by way of the Commissioner of Police position for which I am easily qualified, and this is the reason I reapplied. It’s not easy being Commissioner of Police. No one likes being threatened every day or having to send their family abroad to preserve their safety. Trust me when I say that this is not a life anyone would ‘fight’ to have (assuming they are doing it properly). I do it because I believe I can impact change. It’s a personal sacrifice!
If at the end of this process I am not chosen I will continue to contribute to my country in another way. The Police Service, the Police Service Commission, the Office of the President, the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago and the Judiciary are just but some of the institutions in this country that are bigger than Gary Griffith and that will outlast Gary Griffith. I therefore have no desire to be part of anything that leads to the tarnishing of these and other national institutions.
What I can and will say, is that the country of Trinidad and Tobago will be given my service until the day I die. This is who I am!
Gary Griffith.
Commissioner of Police (Ag)