Last week Wednesday’s shoot out between two police officers has been criticised as “not poor quality officers” but “poor quality management.”
This was the view of former national security minister Gary Griffith.
Griffith, in an interview, blamed the hierarchy of the Police Service for not being able to “grasp the importance of providing officers with the proper training and tools needed to excel.
“This incident yet again shows the failure of proper leadership and management of the Police Service by those at the highest level. Two officers firing dozens of rounds at almost arms length to each other and not one shot being an accurate hit. Also the childish and clumsy method seen of how they held, aimed and fired the weapon, causing such inaccurate shooting, shows that these officers, like many, are not mandated to go on a firing range annually to properly utilise the marksmanship principles for firing a weapon,” he added.
Griffith said during his tenure as minister he had set up the National Security Training Academy in Cumuto, led by Brigadier Carl Alfonso “to do just that.
“Training for every officer to know when to draw a weapon, using the minimum use of force policy how and how to use it effectively to take down the criminal,” Griffith said.
“The hierarchy of the TTPS abandoned such systems that were there as they simply do not understand the type of training, units and operations required in this era.
Proper training should be provided so that officers would know if they can and should draw their weapons, as they would know how and when to use it,” he added.
The shooting incident between Sgt Darryl Honore and another officer took place outside Ruby Tuesdays restaurant at Grand Bazaar. Honore died on Sunday night