Owners and managers of Members Clubs believe that fines and police spot checks may form part of the new normal for the re-opening of the entertainment sector for vaccinated people.
They say it appears that patrons of Members Clubs, including casinos and restaurants, may have to present their vaccination cards and ID for police spot checks once those facilities reopen for in-house service.
However, Acting Police Commissioner Gary Griffith said there is no law to allow for that.
Guardian Media has received information in a conversation among owners and operators of members clubs which stated that the Ministry of Health confirmed to them that that was part of the process of opening the safe zones for vaccinated people only.
On Friday Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley outlined plans for a gradual reopening of the entertainment sector including casinos, bars, restaurants and gyms.
The Prime Minister said that that sector would reopen in October, once there was a continuation of the increased vaccination figures.
According to the information received, “Police will be checking everyone must have in their possession the vaccination cards and their I.D.”
President of the T&T Members Club, Sherry Persad told Guardian Media that she could not formally confirm any conversations with the Ministry of Health until it was in writing but said that members of the Members Clubs have written to the Ministry of Health requesting details on the reopening.
“I know we have all written letters and been in communication but unless something official has come to us we cannot give out any information,” she said.
“According to the Prime Minister’s statement (Friday) that he was looking to open us up as a safety zone, what we gathered from it is that it will only be for vaccinated persons,” Persad said.
“We are waiting for more clarification. We are hoping we have a month and the cases go down and vaccination goes up because we are really hoping to open at the end of the month or as early as October,” she said.
“This is the fifth month we have been closed and it has been hard for our industry and the employees,” she said.
Griffith rubbished the claim saying that there was no legislation allowing police to spot check patrons.
“Police cannot enforce a law that is not there,” he said yesterday.
“There is no State or Government policy that mandates that persons would be debarred from entering any private or public space if they are vaccinated or not,” he said.
“If we do not have that authority to do it in a public space we definitely would not be able to enforce it in a private space,” he said.
“If it is your private property and you want to only allow vaccinated people on the premises, that is your policy. The police have nothing to do with that,” Griffith said.
“There is absolutely nothing to give the police any such authorisation in any private establishment to be able to check for vaccination cards,” he said.
Griffith said that even if an unvaccinated person wanted to enter the premises after the policy for vaccinated only was in place, that was a job for the company’s private security and the TTPS.
“Officers are not bouncers for these private places. The only time officers would intervene is if a law is being broken, if someone is being abusive,” he said.
Guardian Media reached out to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley about how the safe zones would operate and whether police spot checks were part of the process, but there was no response.
Guardian Media also reached out to Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh via text message without a response and tried calling him. The Minister answered his mobile phone and then disconnected the call.