Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - Aujourd'hui 04:32

Changing to blue and grey not answer

THE EDITOR: In my view, changing the tactical gear of police officers to grey and blue outfits is certainly not the answer for preventing criminals posing as police officers to engage in kidnappings, extortion and murders. The truth to this problem lies in the DNA of the corrupt officers. In the first place, why did the police change to tactical gear from blue and grey? I remember seeing them walking the streets in short pants and a copybook under their arms. It was typical attire which portrayed no danger and was widely accepted. It was there when Randolph Burroughs was the commission of police for nine years. He and his officers all wore the blue and grey and crime continued, and he didn’t see change of uniform as a solution to crime by fake police. So, the evidence speaks for itself. We have been there before with a radical police commissioner and still the criminals continued murdering and kidnapping people. It doesn’t necessarily mean reintroduction of the grey and blue would stop the fake police activities, and I am sure the current commissioner knows of Burroughs, who wasn’t interested in a change of clothes, but a change in modus operandi. Not all officers are bad and not all are good. I believe the bad or corrupt officers are the facilitators who enable fake police to commit crimes. It is a physiological problem and not a physical one, which doesn’t involve a change of uniforms. I think those officers that align themselves and support banditry are just as bad as fake police officers; they are the real culprits. Those whose DNA composition is presumed malicious are the officers who cannot possibly absolve themselves from criminal behaviour, and remain as officers in good standing while promoting fake police activities. The CoP needs to weed out the bad ones as soon as possible. It is time for random drug testing, physical fitness testing, polygraph testing, and background testing to ascertain the good, the bad and those who fail to pass muster. So, it's noteworthy that Burroughs, the radical, flamboyant Flying Squad crime fighter, didn't change the blue and grey, and that Erla Harewood-Christopher has mandated it – as if that's the magic bullet. JAY RAKHAR New York The post Changing to blue and grey not answer appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.