00:00With suspended police commissioner,
00:03Erla Harewood-Christopher's contract coming to an end next month,
00:07the Police Service Commission is moving apace to appoint a substantive police commissioner.
00:12However, newly appointed Minister of National Security Marvin Gonzalez is making it clear
00:17that the government has no additional information on the process.
00:21The Police Service Commission is an independent commission,
00:25and the government is not involved in it.
00:26The last I have heard is that the process is ongoing.
00:29The government, the Cabinet, the National Security Council has not been advised
00:34that the process has been completed.
00:36So, as far as we are aware in the government, as far as I am aware in the ministry,
00:41that process is ongoing.
00:43The commissioner's challenge to a suspension was supposed to be heard before a high court judge today,
00:49but the matter has been deferred to a date to be determined.
00:52However, the police investigation remains active.
00:55The Ministry of National Security and the government of Trinidad and Tobago,
01:01we are not participating, we are not involved, we are not a party to this process,
01:07and there's no way we are being provided with any update on this particular matter.
01:13I can tell you that since I have been on this chair within a month now,
01:17I have had no such briefing on the status of this particular investigation.
01:21The government will await the outcome of these processes that are being managed by an independent commission,
01:29which is the police service commission dealing with this election and the filling of the vacancy of the commission of police.
01:34The director of public prosecution advising the Trinidad and Tobago police service
01:38with respect to the ongoing investigation concerning the substantive commission of police.
01:43We just have to await the outcome of these processes,
01:48and once they are completed, the government will follow the law
01:52and do what it's supposed to do in accordance with the constitution.
01:57What the minister would say, however, is that it is government's intention
02:01to review the selection process for police commissioners.
02:06What is the proposal on the table in terms of that change?
02:08There is no proposal on the table that the government is presently considering,
02:15but we know as a country that this process is very cumbersome,
02:21this process is very political, it is always mired in confusion,
02:26and it is not one that augurs well for the stability and the management of the Trinidad and Tobago police service.
02:32So that there is a possibility that whatever work has been done up to the point
02:36when Parliament reconvenes that that could be quashed.
02:40No, we have to comply with the law,
02:44and insofar as it relates to whether or not the law has changed or not changed,
02:49whatever is the process, we have to follow through with it.
02:51Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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