Keith Rowley on Friday defended his stand in demanding that police commissioner Dwayne Gibbs launch an investigation into Jack Warner.
The opposition leader has given Gibbs five days to begin an investigation into corruption allegations linked to the world football body, FIFA.
In his Facebook page, Rowley said by common law police officers owe to the general public a duty to enforce the criminal law.
He said under the Police Service Act the first duty of a police officer is to preserve the peace and detect crime and other breaches of the law.
"In short therefore at common law and under statute the police are under a duty to the public to investigate crimes.
"This duty however is one in which they necessarily have a discretion as to how much resources to devote to any particular investigation and whether to investigate at all," he said.
The opposition leader said "if an officer is of the view that information received is unreliable or frivolous or tenuous so as to render it wasteful to expend resources on an investigation, he can decide not to investigate."
However, he said once an officer has reasonable cause "to suspect that a crime has been, is being or may be committed then certainly the obligation to the public to investigate arises.
"Failure to investigate in such a case must be for good reason and it is difficult to see what such good reason would be. The discretion of the police not to investigate must be exercised transparently, in good faith and must be rational having regard to all the circumstances," he said.
Rowley said under these circumstance and based on "a sustained plethora of news reports in the international, regional and domestic media of an alleged incident of bribery on the shores of Trinidad and Tobago" the refusal of the police to investigate Warner appears unjustified.
He said if the investigation reveals that there is insufficient evidence to lay charges "then so be it".
However he said in the present circumstances the police have an obligation to investigate, given the information in the public domain. "Failure so to do on spurious reasons is not acceptable," he said.
"The suggestion that a lack of official report or complaint means that the police cannot investigate is so ludicrous that it is bordering on a dereliction of duty," Rowley said.
The opposition leader has given Gibbs five days to begin an investigation into corruption allegations linked to the world football body, FIFA.
In his Facebook page, Rowley said by common law police officers owe to the general public a duty to enforce the criminal law.
He said under the Police Service Act the first duty of a police officer is to preserve the peace and detect crime and other breaches of the law.
"In short therefore at common law and under statute the police are under a duty to the public to investigate crimes.
"This duty however is one in which they necessarily have a discretion as to how much resources to devote to any particular investigation and whether to investigate at all," he said.
The opposition leader said "if an officer is of the view that information received is unreliable or frivolous or tenuous so as to render it wasteful to expend resources on an investigation, he can decide not to investigate."
However, he said once an officer has reasonable cause "to suspect that a crime has been, is being or may be committed then certainly the obligation to the public to investigate arises.
"Failure to investigate in such a case must be for good reason and it is difficult to see what such good reason would be. The discretion of the police not to investigate must be exercised transparently, in good faith and must be rational having regard to all the circumstances," he said.
Rowley said under these circumstance and based on "a sustained plethora of news reports in the international, regional and domestic media of an alleged incident of bribery on the shores of Trinidad and Tobago" the refusal of the police to investigate Warner appears unjustified.
He said if the investigation reveals that there is insufficient evidence to lay charges "then so be it".
However he said in the present circumstances the police have an obligation to investigate, given the information in the public domain. "Failure so to do on spurious reasons is not acceptable," he said.
"The suggestion that a lack of official report or complaint means that the police cannot investigate is so ludicrous that it is bordering on a dereliction of duty," Rowley said.
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