ATTORNEY General John Jeremie described the events surrounding the arrest of former commissioner of police Erla Harewood-Christopher as "shocking," at a post-cabinet briefing chaired by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the Red House, Port of Spain on Thursday May 15.
Persad-Bissessar herself said the government had acted lawfully throughout the entire episode. In her round-up of Cabinet's recent activities, the PM said they had agreed to buy out Harewood-Christopher's remaining vacation leave which a recent statement by the Ministry of Homeland Security had said was 66 days.
Jeremie could not state a dollars and cents amount of what it would cost to buy out the former CoP's leave which he said covered 66-70 days.
He said, "The Government did not think it made sense have Ms Christopher report for duty for half of a day or one day and then revert to a position (that) if she was not extended – and I don't think the mind of the government was to extend her – that we would have an accounting officer and not a CoP in charge of the police service."
The AG said the government had not created this situation but in fact inherited it from the previous PNM government.
He said, "We felt it would be better for the police service to have a CoP in place throughout the period leading up to the new parliament. That meant that Mr Benjamin (Acting CoP Junior Benjamin) as the person in the chair should continue."
Reporters asked how he viewed the saga of Harewood-Christopher's arrest, suspension, release without charge and ending her 40-plus years service under such controversy.
"We have been in office (only for) a couple of weeks. This is a situation that pre-dated us. We have had reports on what led to the arrest. The entire thing was shocking. I mean, a police commissioner being the subject of an arrest! That is something that is unusual. It was a situation we met."
The AG shook his head from side to side to indicate his incredulity at the whole turn of events.
Jeremie said the government had played the cards it had been dealt "as straight as we could play them." Pressed as to whether her contract would be extended, the AG said, "No, no, no.
"Her contract came to an end. Cabinet decided the incumbent (Benjamin), the police commissioner who has been running the service, should be extended."
Commenting on the buy-out of Harewood-Christopher's leave, the AG said, "The cost is not great in terms of the gain which we get – stability in the police service."
Asked if he feared any legal action from Harewood-Christopher, Jeremie said, "Absolutely not. We will deal with that if it comes. That is all hypothetical."
Persad-Bissessar added, "We have acted within the law. We have acted totally within the law. This is a free country and every citizen is entitled to seek legal redress. If we don't use the court houses what do we end up with? The law of the jungle.
"So if she does, she does. We will deal with that. But we have acted within the law. We have done nothing untoward, legally."
She said the governm
