Criminologist and Attorney at Law, Dr Wendell Wallace will lead a 5 member Police Service Commission.
The members took their oaths of office at President’s House on Friday.
Newly appointed Chairman Dr Wendell Wallace said he felt humbled at being called to serve in this capacity. He said his team will be working closely with Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood Christopher and the management of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service on a number of issues, one of which is regaining the public trust for the TTPS.
“You want to ensure that there’s some level of accountability for those who run afoul of the law, those police officers who fail to submit files on time and fail to live up to the mandate of policing. Because if the trust is lost in the police service, then we are in a really bad place.
And I’m not saying for one moment that the trust is lost, but we need to work towards getting the trust, getting the public to trust the police, and that in itself. When you build trust, you build legitimacy in policing.”
The other members of the committee are Attorney at law Annika Fritz-Browne, Former Tobago House of Assembly Administrator Ethel Hector-Berkeley, Human Resources Professional Roger Babooram and Academic Head of the Caribbean Institute for Security and Public Safety Ian Kevin Ramdhanie, who was reappointed. As a returning member, Mr Ramdhanie noted one of the issues that he thinks needs to be addressed within the police service.
“The relationship they have with the public, the citizenry. I mean, you hear and read about all kinds of stories about people getting turned away from assistance and stuff.
I think these things can be worked on, at least at the basic micro level, assist the citizenry as much as they can. That can be worked on”
The Police Service Commission is an independent body under the constitution of Trinidad and Tobago. Among the responsibilities of the commission is the appointment of a Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Police, make appointments on promotion and to confirm appointments and monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners of Police.