Suspended police costing State $31m annually
The Police Administrative Building on Sackville Street, Port of Spain
Photo: Jeff K Mayers
National Security Minister Stuart Young said government’s policy is that the Commissioner of Police should act within the ambit of the law when addressing the issue of suspended police officers.
He was responding to a question posed in the Senate by Opposition Senator Wade Mark on Thursday, which asked what action the State was taking to address hundreds of suspended police officers who were costing approximately $50 million annually.
Young said, according to figures from the CoP, 292 police officers of various ranks were on suspension, at an annual cost of $31,526,163.12, not $50 million, as at October 31, 2020.
File photo
Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Minister Clarence Rambharat has said the police are investigating the allocation of a 10,000-square-foot parcel of state land at No 1 Mucurapo Road, St James.
He was responding to a question by Opposition Senator Wade Mark about reports that state land has been cleared by a religious organisation without the official permission of the Commissioner of State Lands.
The minister said the question related to a parcel of state land comprising 32 acres, two roods, five perches, the substantial part of which has been utilised for public purposes by the State. He said this larger parcel of land is bounded on the east by Christopher Samuel Drive, on the south by the Audrey Jeffers Highway and on the west by a road reserve.