Policemen decide to work; stunned country shuts down

There was always a distinct possibility that, on the day local policemen collectively took their jobs seriously, Trinidad and Tobago would cease to function. Gangsters would hide in their mummy’s closets, corrupt Ministers would head for Panama, Jack Warner would lock himself in his underground vault and the Devil would catch frostbite.

Photo: I thought they were coming for we this morning yes! Ex-Sport Minister Anil Roberts (left) greets ex-National Security Minister Jack Warner during happier times. (Copyright Trinidad Guardian)
Photo: I thought they were coming for we this morning yes!
Ex-Sport Minister Anil Roberts (left) greets ex-National Security Minister Jack Warner during happier times.
(Copyright Trinidad Guardian)

Today was not quite that day. Because, as always, the target was not the country’s lawbreakers; but the everyday citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.

They shouldn’t bother to give Trinbagonians passports anymore. A “Kick Me” sign with scotch tape and an arrow would do just as well.

And yet this does not take away from the fact that the same Police Service that could not catch a fugitive in a wheelchair—or figure out a FIFA Hyatt bribery/money laundering case despite photographic and video evidence and dozens of eyewitnesses—was able to concoct one of the most innovative instances of industrial actions in the nation’s history.

Police Inspector Roger Alexander, the vice president of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association, told the TV6 Morning Edition that the lawmen were just doing their job and demonstrating their worth to the public by nationwide road blocks.

Policemen and women cannot stay away from work; so they decided to make their point by working harder than ever. Who could have seen that coming?!

To be fair: if the police had downed tools, who would have noticed?

Photo: Trust me... You would prefer that I didn't come to work!
Photo: Trust me… You would prefer that I didn’t come to work!

Up and down the country, politicians ran around in a state of panic as schools, banks, airlines and everything in-between were affected.

National Security Minister Carl Alfonso, according to the Trinidad Guardian, publicly begged acting Commissioner of Police Ann Marie Alleyne-Daly to call off the roadblocks. But what can the Government do to stop a repeat occurrence?

Alleyne-Daly is acting for Stephen Williams, who himself is also acting as the police chief. Perhaps conveniently, Williams is overseas on vacation. Below Williams and Alleyne-Daly are poorly paid and largely neglected servicemen who, for the most part, didn’t even get a wine for the Carnival.

It seems that our actors in the police service have gotten fed up with the subservient roles handed to them by their Government directors.

To suggest that the police run the risk of alienating the public is laughable. There hasn’t been a positive word said about lawmen since an obscure dancehall artiste sang “Police Boy Blue… come to show what police can do” in the early 1990s.

Inspector Alexander warned that Trinidad and Tobago should expect to see more “total policing” in the immediate future. A 35 percent pay hike would make them become a bit less exuberant about their duties.

Wait?! The police will shut down the country unless they get more money NOT to work?!

Photo: License and registration please...
Photo: License and registration please…

Suddenly, Mr Live Wire is nostalgic for the good old days when Yasin Abu Bakr tried to overthrow the Government for a combination of perceived discrimination and oppressive economic policies.

But then it might be a natural progression for a society in which Adolphus Daniell got $34 million from LifeSport without putting in a day’s work and lawyers like Gerald Ramdeen charging the Government tens of thousands of dollars for a pre-action protocol letter.

If the priest could play, who is the police?

Live Wire suggests a six percent pay hike for all lawmen if they could lift the rate of arrests and criminal charges up to 25 percent of all homicides and State fraud by December 2015. Another six percent increase if they get the rate of convictions to match.

In the meantime, they can get a two percent rise on good faith with one condition. They must catch Dana Seetahal’s murderer.

Photo: Dana Seetahal SC was gunned down in Woodbrook in the wee hours of Sunday 4 May 2014.
Photo: Dana Seetahal SC was gunned down in Woodbrook in the wee hours of Sunday 4 May 2014.

Happy hunting officers!

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About Mr. Live Wire

Mr. Live Wire is an avid news reader who translates media reports for persons who can handle the truth. And satire. Unlike Jack Nicholson, he rarely yells.

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27 comments

  1. I wish Randy – but I’m currently working on the film Play the Devil and we are shooting today so I won’t be out of our production office until your meeting is done. I’ve already told Michael to catch me up. Have a productive meeting!

  2. Trini logic. Protective services picong. Hope to see you later Timmia!

  3. Do u know what they want to accomplish

  4. Great strategy from our lawmen enforcers!

  5. Fight for equality and better wages? yes, but what is the correct wage for a police officer? how does one evaluate this, is it by the measure of danger associated with the job? then the person driving the gas truck to deliver fuel to the nation is under paid? yes. when we choose a profession we are cognizant of the salary, yet after obtaining the job we want higher wages. this should be addressed once and for all. Police officers are asked to perform above and beyond daily, they are asked to go after drug barons who possess millions and can bribe a President so fix that salary but at the same time we must demand higher performance levels from them. Maybe $20,000.,, per month but to receive this a bar must be set. Not by the British Constabulary nor the American Detective but maybe the standards set by the Alaska State Troopers.

  6. Trinidad’s grid line shut down

  7. Yeah they never work so hard in their life….hmmm

  8. Here’s another one that sounds like an Onion article!

  9. Thanks for explaining the full story. A+

  10. One of your best Lasana Liburd

  11. Angeli Gajadhar
    Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Social and Welfare Association
    Re-posting from a very smart friend! Alla Trinbago make allyuh out now!
    ————————————————————————————————————–
    Things I have learnt from #Roadblock2015
    1. The police do have the knowledge and resources to create a national coordinated response.
    2. The police know the precise locations to lock in/block in vehicles/vehicular traffic.
    3. The police know exactly how to relieve traffic when areas are gridlocked.
    4. The police have plenty vehicles available for use.
    5. The police have plenty officers available for foot patrols.
    7. The police strategy has been and continues to be, go after the soft targets and the sitting ducks. Avoid Mr. and Ms Big.
    8. The police First and Second Divisions are a united force with the former legitimising the actions of the latter.
    9. The police are performing two main duties today….roadblocks to stop most people and escorts to let some chosen people through.
    10. The police work best and most strategically when paid below the salaries they demand.
    More to come as I continue to observe.

  12. (slow clap)
    Well played, Lasana, well played.

  13. Lasana Gerald Ramdeen charged us hundreds of thousands of dollars for a PAPL… not tens of thousands. Great article none the less!! I like your terms and conditions 🙂

  14. Hilarious as usual Lasana Liburd

  15. The caption on the picture of Jack and Anil – Priceless!!!

  16. Mr. Livewire, I always enjoy when you display your writing skills in this fashion.

  17. Well written

  18. Fantastic article Lasana, the incentive for performance programme offered to the police is inspired.

  19. Can’t wait to see the spin-masters within the PP somehow manage to hit the public a doosra and claim that this is somehow either …
    a PNM plot to destabilise the country
    a PNM-created problem that was inherited but is somehow irreparable
    a direct consequence of Rowley’s “cyat” statement

  20. Respect my authoritah! Can’t blame the police for their unique labour dispute strategy. They have chosen a method that affected even the mightiest amongst government. And there will be more to come, I’m sure …

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