An­na-Lisa Paul

Se­nior Re­porter

an­na-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

Se­nior po­lice of­fi­cers yes­ter­day apol­o­gised to the na­tion and the fam­i­ly of Sachel Kunge­be­har­ry, for what they termed a “be­tray­al” by those who had sworn to pro­tect and serve cit­i­zens.

Kunge­be­har­ry, a busi­ness­man, was kid­napped and found mur­dered last week. Two po­lice of­fi­cers ap­peared in court charged in con­nec­tion with the crimes yes­ter­day.

Dur­ing a me­dia brief­ing at the Po­lice Ad­min­is­tra­tion Build­ing, Port-of-Spain, the me­dia was told Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Er­la Hare­wood-Christo­pher strong­ly con­demned the al­leged ac­tions of the two of­fi­cers.

While the CoP was ab­sent, Pub­lic In­for­ma­tion Of­fi­cer, In­sp Michelle Lewis, con­veyed a strong­ly-word­ed mes­sage on her be­half.

The CoP was quot­ed as say­ing, “The TTPS is deeply dis­tressed and dis­ap­point­ed fol­low­ing the events that led to the ar­rest and for­mal charges brought against two of­fi­cers.”

She said the ac­tions of the law­men were “in di­rect op­po­si­tion to the core val­ues and tenets of the TTPS. This be­hav­iour con­sti­tutes an act of be­tray­al and will not be tol­er­at­ed.”

Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (DCP), In­ves­ti­ga­tions and In­tel­li­gence, Suzette Mar­tin, de­scribed the in­ci­dent as both “trag­ic and sober­ing.”

Ad­dress­ing re­porters, Mar­tin lament­ed the cir­cum­stances that had led to the kid­nap­ping and sub­se­quent mur­der of Kunge­be­har­ry.

Mar­tin ac­knowl­edged, “Many of you are feel­ing hurt, an­gry and per­haps a deep sense of be­tray­al. I share in that pain.”

She said lo­cal au­thor­i­ties were be­ing as­sist­ed by ex­ter­nal se­cu­ri­ty agen­cies as the in­ves­ti­ga­tion con­tin­ued.

Mar­tin re­ferred to the charg­ing of the of­fi­cers as a dark day for the coun­try, as well as for all who wear the badge.

A som­bre Mar­tin de­clared, “This is not just a be­tray­al of the vic­tims and their fam­i­lies, it is a be­tray­al of the trust that you, the pub­lic, have placed in the TTPS.”

How­ev­er, she urged the pub­lic not to lose hope.

“The ac­tions of a few of­fi­cers have shak­en the foun­da­tion of trust, and that is es­sen­tial for us who serve and pro­tect this com­mu­ni­ty.”

Mar­tin al­so said the de­ci­sion to charge the of­fi­cers was both le­gal and moral, and a tes­ti­mo­ny of the TTPS’ com­mit­ment to the rule of law and the val­ues they swore to up­hold.

The Com­mis­sion­er, in her state­ment, added, “We will con­tin­ue to hold our of­fi­cers to the high­est stan­dards of con­duct, and any breach of du­ty will be met with swift and de­ci­sive ac­tion. I re­it­er­ate that no of­fi­cer is above the law, and those who en­gage in crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ties will face the full con­se­quences of their ac­tions.”

She as­sured the vast ma­jor­i­ty of of­fi­cers of the TTPS were hon­est, ded­i­cat­ed, hard-work­ing, and re­mained com­mit­ted to up­hold­ing the law.

She added that rogue of­fi­cers will be sent pack­ing.

“The mis­con­duct of a few will not be al­lowed to over­shad­ow the ded­i­ca­tion of the many. As Com­mis­sion­er, I am in­tent on purg­ing the Ser­vice of all rogue el­e­ments with­in our ranks.”

Mar­tin added, “We are com­mit­ted to tak­ing con­crete steps to­wards re­form, trans­paren­cy and build­ing re­la­tion­ships with every com­mu­ni­ty. I will en­sure that ac­count­abil­i­ty mea­sures are strength­ened, not just in re­sponse to this tragedy but as a long-term com­mit­ment to the pub­lic good.”

This, she ex­plained, in­cludes re­view­ing re­cruit­ment process­es, along with ex­ist­ing train­ing and oth­er in­ter­nal sys­tems to pre­vent this type of crime from oc­cur­ring again.

Mean­while, As­sis­tant Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (ACP), Crim­i­nal, Curt Si­mon, not­ed, “These of­fi­cers were so reck­less in their crime bid that they used a marked po­lice ve­hi­cle to car­ry out this heinous crime of kid­nap­ping and mur­der.”

He echoed the CoP and Mar­tin’s as­sur­ances that any of­fi­cer who con­tra­venes the law would face the con­se­quences. He urged cit­i­zens with in­for­ma­tion about of­fi­cers en­gaged in crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ties to re­port them so they can ad­dress the is­sues.