More police sick out; PNM Senator calls for end to "chaos"

Soldiers on guard outside Parliament

Hundreds of police officers on Tuesday failed to report for duty, repeating their action from the day before and causing disruption to vital services as well as creating security lapses.

On Tuesday dozens of officers of the Guard and Emergency Branch stayed away from their posts and the Defence Force had to be called in to guard Parliament.

Inside, at the regular Senate meeting People's National Movement Senator Pennelope Beckles-Robinson-Robinson urged Government to deal with the problem.

"When police officers do not go to the Prime Minister's residence, when they do not go to the Attorney General's home for the purposes of doing their duty and ensuring that persons who are at the highest echelons in our society are not protected, we know that our society is in crisis," she said.

"When people read that police sickout affects the President, the Prime Minister and the Attorney General, they probably wonder what is really going on in Trinidad and Tobago. It is total chaos."

She called on Finance Minister Winston Dookeran to sit down and have a meeting with all the relevant parties so that all efforts could be made for Trinidad and Tobago to get back to normal.

"At present, the impression that is being created by this Government is that it has no compassion for the public servant and the police service...please let us find a way to deal with the issues relating to the police officers.

"It may even be very easy for people to say that those who are staying away from work are very unpatriotic," Beckles-Robinson said in reference to a statement by the Minister of National Security.

Public Utilities Minister Emmanuel George asked why Beckles-Robinson did not show the same concern for public officers when the PNM was in office and public servants were marching. "I didn't hear her calling on her Government to do anything about it," he said.