Da­reece Po­lo

Se­nior Re­porter

da­reece.po­lo@guardian.co.tt

The T&T Po­lice Ser­vice says there is no need for an in­ves­ti­ga­tion to be launched in­to the video show­ing act­ing Pris­ons Com­mis­sion­er De­op­er­sad Ra­moutar at a beach gath­er­ing, while two as­sault ri­fles were hang­ing from a tree near­by.

In the video, which was leaked on so­cial me­dia, Ra­moutar was cap­tured in a four-minute clip hang­ing out with po­lice and prison of­fi­cers near the beach at Cha­cachacare, while the weapons, which Ra­moutar called his “pro­tec­tion”, dan­gled from a tree.

The ac­tion was ridiculed in sev­er­al quar­ters, with some peo­ple call­ing for some type of dis­ci­pli­nary or po­lice ac­tion.

For­mer pris­ons com­mis­sion­er Den­nis Pul­chan and Prison Of­fi­cers As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent Ger­ard Gor­don both la­belled the video reck­less. Gor­don said it al­so hurt the chances of prison of­fi­cers who re­quire per­son­al firearms for their pro­tec­tion, con­sid­er­ing their high-risk job.

Speak­ing at a me­dia con­fer­ence yes­ter­day, how­ev­er, act­ing Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Curt Si­mon said the video did not present enough in­frac­tions to re­quire a po­lice probe.

“We have viewed that short video clip cir­cu­lat­ing and the TTPS will not be con­duct­ing any in­ves­ti­ga­tions in­to that mat­ter,” Si­mon said.