Outgoing US Ambassador John Estrada says if he were in charge of the Police Service he would fire himself in the face of a spiralling crime problem.
Estrada, who is due to fly out of T&T on Friday after a brief 10 month tour of duty admits to leaving disappointed with two issues, the failure of Parliament to pass the Foreign Exchange Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the worsening crime situation.
“The leadership at the top of the police service they need to be held accountable,” he said.
Estrada, 60, took up his post in April 2016 and said while it “would have been nice to have a few more months,” he felt he came at “the right time for all the right reasons. I came here at a time when there was a new government, I was a new Ambassador and full of energy, and we accomplished a lot. I think if I had come earlier a couple of years would have been wasted.”
On the issue of crime, Estrada said the United States provided a lot of resources to fight crime in T&T, from the FBI to training.
“To see the homicide rate spiral out of control ... it hurts me everytime I see a young woman, young school girl, and there was one just recently. It happens so frequently and I listen to the leadership. The people responsible for fighting crime are the police. There has to be accountability at that level.”
Estrada said: “If I were in charge of the police we would get results. If not, I would be the first one to fire myself if I ran the Police Service.”
His comments came days after the man in charge of the T&T Police Service, acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams, gave letters to the head of the Eastern Division Snr Supt John Trim and head of the Inter-Agency Task Force Snr Supt Simbonath Rajkumar, former head of the Northern Division, outlining shortcomings in their divisions and giving them seven days to respond.
While not focusing on that specifically, the Ambassador said the ultimate responsibility for the failing crime situation is the “leadership at the top of the police service.”
He also weighed in on joint police army patrols saying it could prove to be detrimental to the army. He said during a television interview: “If you keep the army on the street fighting crime they are going to get as corrupted as some of the police on the street.”
PCA DIRECTOR WAS RIGHT
At a function at the British High Commission recently, Director of the Police Complaints Authority David West referred to the police service as a gang. The statement prompted calls from the Police Social and Welfare Organisation for his resignation. West has since apologised saying he ought to have said there are rogue officers within the service who have to be removed and brought before the courts.
Without referring to West by name, Ambassador Estrada noted that there had been “a big controversy when someone made a comment”, although he was right. “In any organisation you have five, ten per cent of bad actors. He was right to say that.”
“In any organisation, if anyone says we have 100 per cent of folks doing the right thing every day, it is not the truth. There are some in the US, we see what happens. I am not saying we have a police force where everyone doing everything right 24/7. You have to face reality.”
Estrada described the judicial system as mind boggling because “you could arrest someone and they don’t come to trial for two to seven years.”
He said: “It is in need of reform.”
FATCA OBJECTORS HAVE ‘COCOA IN THE SUN’
On crucial FATCA legislation, Estrada said he had told the US Treasury last September and repeated one and a half weeks ago when he went to Washington, that the matter “can will be kicked down the road because some folks have cocoa in the sun, as you say here.”
He said he also told the Treasury Department “there are people willing to take the country down with them to protect their own interests.”
Government recently acceded to a request from the Opposition to send the legislation to a Joint Select Committee of Parliament.
Estrada said he is not confident of passage of the legislation and suggested that different strategies be explored. “One of them is to review the Inter-Government Agreement (IGA) which we have. We may need to take a relook at that.”
He said a lot of wrong information had been put out on FATCA.
“Citizens need to understand FATCA is a United States law, passed by Congress. It is not a Presidential decree.”
He said the law targets US citizens who are involved in tax evasion and terrorism.
“Yet we have folks saying this is trampling the rights of the ordinary Trinbagonian. This does not trample the rights of ordinary citizens.
“We have people in this country who say they believe in fighting terrorism, fighting corruption, so why won’t you support a law like this?” he asked.
Estrada said passage of the legislation is in this country’s best interest.
“If it is not taken care of, Trinidad and Tobago, the citizens of this country, will bear some very tough financial consequences,” he said. T&T has until next month to pass the legislation.
