Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, answering questions from the Opposition in the House yesterday, announced the Government is about to initiate a manpower resources audit in the Police Service.
He said one of the Government’s measures in its attack on crime is to focus on the quality of Police Service personnel and the question of accountability.
Rowley said this was being done to ensure the service’s manpower resources are operating at their best.
Asked by Opposition MP Rodney Charles if the Government had a crime plan, Rowley, making light of the question, replied, “We have no intention of committing crime on
this side of the country and we have no crime plan.
“We have an anti-crime plan.”
That plan, he said, largely entails better equipping the police service to do its job to fight crime.
“The responsibility lies with the Police Service.”
Rowley said the Government will leave no stone unturned to help the Police Service become better and more efficient and to operate in a more responsible manner.
Charles, showing documents in his hands which he said were the PNM’s earlier Ten Point Crime Plan, asked Rowley, “Are you denying authorship?”
Rowley seemed irritated by the question. “Well, if you have it what you coming to ask me that for?” he shot back.
This prompted Oropouche MP Dr Roodal Moonilal to call for the Speaker’s protection (from Rowley).
‘I’m scared,” Moonilal was heard saying, as Speaker Brigitte Annisette-George called for order.
The Opposition peppered the PM with questions during the Questions to the Prime Minister segment and it was Tabaquite MP Dr Suruj Rambachan’s turn next.
He asked Rowley, as head of the National Security Council, what kind of support was he giving to the Police Service to make it more effective.
In a more diplomatic tone, Rowley replied the Government had spent a significant sum in helping the police in the area of information gathering.
He said one of the main areas of focus in the Government’s anti-crime plan was on gathering information on who was planning and executing criminal activities.
He indicated a lot of the violent crime had to do with gang activities. As for Carnival celebrations next month, Rowley said, there will be a significant increase in joint army/police patrols at all venues of activity. YB