Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith said once he sits in the chair of Commissioner of Police, he will not be used as a “sandwich” in politics. He added that as COP he walks a very thin line and there is little he can say on certain topics.
Griffith was responding to a comment made by the Prime Minister in Parliament on Monday, in which Dr. Keith Rowley said that Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar knew that Port-of-Spain MP Marlene McDonald would be arrested. Speaking on Power 102’s Power Breakfast Show this morning, Griffith said that responding to Dr. Rowley’s statements would mean that he is questioning the ethics and honesty of the Prime Minister. However, agreeing with the Prime Minister’s comments would force him to question the credibility of the police service. Griffith said that as far as he knows, no one in the police service knew of McDonald’s arrest. He said, “that arrest was only confirmed days before as we had to meet with senior counsel, with the DPP and all this took place about a week before the arrest.”
The Top COP joked that if the Opposition Leader did in fact know about the arrest, then she may have had a fortune teller or was informed that an investigation was taking place and that an arrest was imminent. He said the arrests following McDonald’s, particularly that of Watson Duke, spoke to the professionalism of the TTPS since no one knew that he was to be arrested and subsequently charged.
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