Minister of Homeland Security, Roger Alexander, addressed a controversial issue involving the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and the issuance of traffic violation tickets by officers.
Acknowledging widespread public concern surrounding the matter and drawing from his experience as a former Senior Superintendent of Police, Minister Alexander explained that traffic exercises often lead to the detection of other criminal offences.
“We stopped a particular car and realised, ‘Wait na, you is the owner of this car?’ No. When we checked the system, the car was one that we stopped about two weeks ago, it was owned by someone else. Something told us to check the system. When we were calling the number, we saw the person didn’t answer. When we went by the lady’s home, she went away, her house was broken into, and the car was stolen, and she didn’t have a clue because she was outside at the time.”
Minister Alexander said while he was not making excuses, the first step toward national improvement is obeying the law.
“Once we start obeying the laws, things will trickle down and trickle down. We must start somewhere, you know. A man is smoking a cigarette on the street, and then he throws the butt away, right there. There are certain countries you cannot do it and when they go, they are not doing it, but when they are here, they continue to do it. Let us start somewhere. It must be a zero tolerance in our approach at all times.”