Top cops clarify ban on police officer in social media info leak

The police officer that was named in a media article on Thursday as being barred from entering the Police Academy because of a social media post he allegedly did, turned out to be not the case.

The police officer that was named in a media article on Thursday as being barred from entering the Police Academy because of a social media post he allegedly did, turned out to be not the case.

This was revealed by the head of the Police Training Academy, Supt Andre Norton, on Thursday during the T&T Police Service’s media briefing.

Norton said the ban stemmed from breaches that occurred on June 12, 2020.

“We must maintain high standards to maintain registration at the Academy. We are responsible for training full persons who come off the street, to a high degree of discipline and morals,” Norton said.

“I will state from the onset that the document which was revealed and unfortunately leaked was a document, I, as head of the academy, distributed to all department heads and named individual. And that became important because an investigation was launched, based on an alleged breach on June 12,” he explained.

“There were some breaches which occurred on that particular day on that named individual, and I had to take the action against the individual to ensure the investigation is not tarnished in any way, and had to prohibit the individual’s entry into the TTPS. We have 196 recruits now and we need to ensure that they are not placed in harm’s way,” Norton added further.

Commissioner of Police, Gary Griffith, also took the opportunity to say that he never knew of the named officer in the article and of the ban. He disclosed that he was the one who contacted Norton for clarity.

“I never knew the individual. I don’t know who he was,” Griffith stated. “I never saw what he put online; it was irrelevant to me. The decision was made on actions taken at the Police Academy,” he said.