Gibbs disagrees with Nizam, says no room in police service for race

Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs told the Express newspaper on Saturday he disagrees with statements made on Friday to a parliamentary committee by Nizam Mohammed, chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC).

Mohammed told a Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament there is an ethnic imbalanace in the police service and he is working to change it in order to help create a fair and just society. He said the composition of the executive of the police service does not reflect the society.

Three of his fellow commissioners - Martin George, Kenneth Parker and Jacqueline Cheeseman - distanced themselves immediately from Mohammed's remarks but commissioner Addison Khan did niot comment on it.

JLSC members, Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis, Government Senator David Abdulah, PNM MP Joanne Thomas, PNM Senator Shamfa Cudjoe, and chairman of the JSC Senator Subhas Ramkhelawan also disagreed with Mohammed's statements.

On the outside, Mohammed is also facing condemnation for his remarks from the lobby group Fixin' T&T and members of the Opposition People's National Movement (PNM). The party is calling on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to fire Mohammed.

Commissioner Gibbs told the Express police officers who serve in various positions do so on the basis of competencies and abilities and there is no room for issues of colour and race.

"You have to have a person of good character, integrity, with those abilities that fits into the strategic direction of the organisation," he said.

"Beyond that, any policing organisation looks at demographics, to try to match the demographics within the service to add to the composition of the communities that they police; and the purpose behind that is to ensure that we are sensitive to the needs of the people in the communities," Gibbs added.

However he disagrees with any idea of forcing such a process, saying "you have to look at first of all the Police Service as an organisation that people want to join and want to build their career.

"If you could show that the organisation is one that people will want to join and support, then we should be hiring the right people with the right competencies and, at that point, it doesn't matter ethnicity, gender. These things don't come into play. Again, we want the best people doing the best jobs for the citizens here in Trinidad and Tobago."