00:00At a health fair hosted by the Police Social and Welfare Association at the Vemcot compound in Laventil,
00:06President Gideon Dixon told the TV6 News that every police-involved shooting is taken seriously.
00:13Any involved police shooting is one that is also of concern to us as an association
00:21because we have officers who, in the line of duty, would have been called upon to use lethal force.
00:30We also would have clamored over time for us to be able to have the right systems and mechanisms in place to be able to debrief those officers.
00:39Dixon said both internal and external agencies investigate these cases,
00:44but he expressed concern that coroner's inquests are not being held as often as before.
00:50Now, the fact remains, when you ask the question, you curtail it in terms of more police shootings or more involved police shootings.
01:05But the truth be told is that the other half of the coin that he didn't refer to is that more prevalence of high-power weapons out on the street,
01:18more prevalence of persons going in and out of the justice system,
01:23and more persons living in fear in the current status of Troy and Tobago.
01:28He argued that officers are responding to dangerous situations created by rising crime,
01:35the availability of firearms, gaps in the justice system,
01:39and having to make split-second decisions for their own safety and those around them.
01:45We have to appreciate that the officers have been trained to go in there and shoot
01:50when their life and their colleagues and the members of the public life are in immediate danger.
01:56And upon doing so, they won't be given the opportunity to revisit with a 20-second gap.
02:03They have to do it within the moment.
02:05And subsequent to that, we have where investigations take place.
02:09We have where both PSB and Police Service and Police Compliance Authority and all these
02:18act in the interest of both the members of the public,
02:23and we are prepared to withstand judicial scrutiny.
02:25So everything must be taken comprehensively as opposed to any particular angle which sends the wrong narrative.
02:35Alexander Bruzol, TV6 News.
02:39Alexander Bruzol, TV6 News.
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