National Security Minister Edmond Dillon yesterday maintained that the detection rate of the Police Service is not low.
Dillon defended the Police Service during a Standing Finance Committee meeting into the service in Parliament.
Also, he could not give a definitive time frame time as to when Government would construct in the crime riddled area of Enterprise a police station.
In March, Dillon had informed Parliament that a new station in Enterprise will be constructed in the shortest possible time to control gang violence and other crimes.
However, yesterday when asked by Chaguanas East MP Fazal Karim for an update with respect to a commitment to construct the station, Dillon replied “No. I can’t answer that.”
Karim again asked if the station was down for construction in the new fiscal year.
Imbert injected asking Karim what line item in the draft estimates of expenditure he was referring to.
For the third time Karim asked the same question, but Imbert intervened saying that Dillon had already answered twice.
Tabaquite MP Dr Suruj Rambhachan told Dillon that the Police Service had reported a decline in serious crimes which he had no problem with.
“That is the police statistics. But my belief is that a lot of people are not reporting crimes again.”
Chairman of the committee Osmond Forde told Rambachan that although they were dealing with expenditure of facilities, he would give him some leeway.
“My question would not be a very palatable question because it was going to ask despite all of this and despite what the minister and police commissioner confirms what is being done with its performance goal, why is the detection rate so low?” Rambachan asked.
“The detection rate is not low right now in place and terms of if you do a historical. It is about 31 per cent,” Dillon replied.
Imbert said that this fiscal year the acting Commissioner of Police made a request to him “for a transfer of votes to compensate the families” of police officers who died in the line of duty which was accommodated.