Police Commissioner Gary Griffith says he intends to have a strong and visible presence of police officers across T&T to deter incidents of intimidation, voter suppression, bribery, or illegal canvassing on general election day.
He gave this assurance to the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) Chief Election Officer Fern Narcis-Scope and Deputy Chief Elections Officer Lena Sahadeo during a meeting yesterday at the Police Administration Building, Port-of- Spain.
Also in attendance at the meeting was Deputy Commissioner Jayson Forde.
The meeting provided the opportunity for EBC officials to speak with Griffith about the role and responsibilities of the Police Service in ensuring that the general elections are free and fair for all citizens.
Among the responsibilities for officers, will be providing security for EBC offices and sites and escorting election paraphernalia to be used by election officials on election day—August 10.
The EBC officials also requested that the police assist election officials in ensuring citizens adhere to a request for masks to be worn and proper hygiene practiced upon entering a polling station.
Griffith said he will be overseeing the election day operations from the Commissioner’s Command Centre and there will be an open line of communication between him and EBC officials at all times in the event of some untoward incident.
He also said Emergency Response Patrol vehicles, equipped with dashboard camerasm will be deployed to large polling stations and provide the Command Centre with real-time video footage of the activities at these locations.
The two parties are expected to meet again in the coming weeks as they continue their close collaboration to ensure the election run smoothly.
