“THERE IS a zero tolerance as it relates to police corruption.”
So said acting Police Commissioner Junior Benjamin who addressed information leaks from the service to criminals on TV6’s Morning Edition show, where he was asked by host Marlan Hopkinson about the few number of guns seized by police since the beginning of the state of emergency (SoE), which he speculated may be due to some corrupt officers tipping off criminals.
With regards to police leaking information to criminals, he said:
“It is something that was there before I came, and I am saying that even under Commissioner Christopher, corruption was part and parcel of one of her (Erla Harewood-Christopher) mainstays in terms of action.”
“I would want to continue along that, where we seek to get rid of all forms of the corrupted or corruption as it relates to the Police service,” he said.
He continued, “I am taking a zero tolerance stance and dealing with that where police officers might seem to be selling out information. I am going to be really, really stern on that and with that being said I am saying that we are prepared to go out there and to get the information and we are going to put things in place to ensure that the information that we get, we hold it with great confidentiality and work on those things so that we can get those big ticket items,” he said.
Downward trend
Asked about murders that were still taking place despite the State of Emergency, Benjamin replied that crime was not a static thing but was dynamic.
He said that with this SoE everyone including potential perpetrators were still “free to go up and down”.
He said that the police have seen a “downward trend” with regards to murders, adding that “every life lost is still one too many but we are saving lives”.
Commenting on guns seized and people arrested , he said, “we are not satisfied and we believe that there is a big haul somewhere and we want the public to join us…let us know and let’s seize these big guns because somebody knows something”.
“As we continue to take control we will see a further decline in homicides,” he added.
Benjamin also spoke about the number of arrests made with 2276 operations so far stating that police operations are now being done carefully with attention to detail to minimise potential lawsuits from those arrested once the SoE was over.
“With regards to this SoE as it relates to the TTPS, we have learned from the past and now there is a greater level of intelligence in terms of who were are arresting and reasons for their arrest,” he said.
“We aim here to have those priority offenders to be in detention. We started off pretty slow but now we have 15 or so persons committed and there is a rigorous process before that can happen so as to not repeat the wrongs of the past.”
He said the SoE allowed the Police Service, with its extra power, to immediately target offenders once they have the information.
“Once we know there are guns in the home, we can go in and do things, and because of that, small wins continue, and we continue to be motivated,” he said.
