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CCNTV6
  • 1 year ago
As the Judiciary doubles down on its position that Police Officers are not to be armed in court, The Opposition leader labels the policy hypocritical, calling on the Judiciary to rethink it's position and allow officers to carry their arms to court.
Transcript
00:00In a statement on Friday evening, the judiciary responded to the impasse
00:04between cops and the court over a policy to bar policemen from carrying firearms
00:10while in court. It says a screening policy was established in 2015 to ensure
00:15the safety of all its building users and that the policy is in keeping with
00:20international best practice for court buildings and is in keeping with
00:25security protocols in many sectors across Trinidad and Tobago and
00:29internationally where police officers must be screened. The judiciary says it
00:35continues to engage in discussions with the leadership of the Trinidad and
00:39Tobago Police Service to ensure common understanding of the policy position on
00:44the exclusion of firearms from court buildings. The statement reads quote
00:49despite this policy the judiciary continues to encounter issues from
00:54certain officers of the TTPs whose actions deliberately disregard this
00:59policy that prohibits court users and TTPs officers from entering the court
01:05premises with a firearm where special measures apply. This is worked out
01:10collaboratively end quote. It referenced an incident last Wednesday at the Omero
01:15Judicial Complex when a TTPs officer refused to comply and was refused entry.
01:21The incident the judiciary says escalated to the point where the officer
01:25issued a threat of arrest to court staff. At that point the judiciary doubled down
01:31on its right to regulate access to all court premises. Weighing in on the impasse
01:37opposition leader Kamala Basard Basaza says she believes police officers
01:41should be allowed to keep their firearms when going to court because many of the
01:45cases involve violent crimes and officers are subject to threats by
01:50allies of accused persons. Basard Basaza asked the judiciary and Chief Justice
01:55for clarification on two matters. One, are the TTPs special branch officers who
02:02are assigned to protect magistrates and judges allowed inside court buildings
02:06with their firearms? Two, are judicial officers, masters, magistrates, judges
02:13allowed to enter court buildings with their personal firearms? The opposition
02:18leader says her information to the questions is yes adding quote it is the
02:23height of hypocrisy for the judiciary to leave police officers exposed to
02:28potential attacks without access to their firearms while the judicial
02:32officers are fully protected and allowed to keep theirs end quote. She calls on
02:37the judiciary to come clean cementing her support behind the TTPs officers on
02:42this issue. Basard Basaza says the policy is just as hypocritical as the
02:47Prime Minister and government preventing law-abiding citizens from accessing
02:52legal firearms while the PM and his ministers are fully protected by
02:57heavily armed police. The opposition leader calls for immediate measures to
03:02be taken to amend the policy and while the judiciary says the policy has
03:06existed for over a decade she rebuts that in that time murder and mayhem has
03:11been the order of the day along with an escalation of the number of reports of
03:16hits being called from behind the prison walls by gang members. Further Basard
03:22Basaza laments that since the policy has now been properly made public TTPs
03:27officers are even more vulnerable and exposed to criminal elements. She ends
03:32her statement saying quote I call on the judiciary to make the necessary changes
03:37to allow TTPs officers to be armed in court end quote
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