{"id":1396,"date":"2015-03-24T18:03:58","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T18:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martingeorge.net\/casehistories\/?p=1396"},"modified":"2015-03-24T18:03:58","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T18:03:58","slug":"race-issues-to-be-addressed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/2015\/03\/24\/race-issues-to-be-addressed\/","title":{"rendered":"RACE ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Race issue still to be addressed<\/a><\/h1>\n
Published on\u00a0April 6, 2011<\/abbr>\u00a0
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April 5 2011 \u2013\u00a0newsday.co.tt<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Member<\/a>THREE members appointed to the Police Service Commission (PSC) yesterday admitted that the issue of racial imbalance within the ranks of the Police Service is an issue that must be dealt with. But just not now.<\/p>\n

This, as they extended an \u201colive branch\u201d to fired PSC chairman Nizam Mohammed. At a press briefing held at the Marriott Hotel, Mucurapo, three members of the PSC revealed that the issue of racial imbalances within the Police Service was discussed informally prior to a meeting of the PSC in February. However, they said, the issue was discussed and then the then chairman, Nizam Mohammed, agreed to take the issue off of the meeting\u2019s formal agenda. Instead, he later sought the protection of Parliament in order to raise the issue in an open forum. The PSC members said they were shocked when this happened.<\/p>\n

However asked yesterday whether, notwithstanding Mohammed\u2019s removal, there was still a valid issue of racial imbalance to be dealt with, PSC members Kenneth Parker and Martin George argued that there was an issue that would have to be dealt with but at the appropriate time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is an issue which we are not prepared to discuss at this time,\u201d Parker told members of the media. \u201cThis is something that we are all very aware of and we would treat that matter in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n

George, on the same issue, noted that, \u201cthese are issues which will always be important to any society and we must never shrink from dealing with issues simply because they are thorny or difficult.\u201d At the same time, George argued that the issue comes down to one of the proper remit of the PSC, which is the watchdog body over the Police Service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must be guided by our remit,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think that is where we were forced to path ways with our chairman.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, the three members extended an \u201colive branch\u201d to Mohammed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have continued to extend an olive branch of peace, friendship and harmony to our former chairman and do so still and we wish only the very best for him in his future endeavours,\u201d George said.<\/p>\n

While under Section 122 of the Constitution there is no properly constituted PSC without a chairman, the three members yesterday indicated that they have powers to continue to function. In addition to yesterday\u2019s press conference, this week\u2019s activities are to also include a planned meeting on Thursday where the issue of Mohammed\u2019s removal is due to be noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be able to continue with the work of the commission,\u201d George argued. He said three members would make a quorum.<\/p>\n

The appointed PSC members who attended yesterday\u2019s press briefing were: Jacqueline Cheesman, George and Parker. The fourth member, Addison Khan, was notably absent. The PSC members present attempted to downplay the perception of division with the PSC, especially so in the wake of Mohammed\u2019s removal. \u201cThere was never any division,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.newsday.co.tt\/crime_and_court\/0,138355.html<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

George: We should have facts<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u2026before going to CoP on \u2018ethnic imbalance\u2019<\/b><\/big><\/p>\n

April 6, 2011 \u2013\u00a0trinidadexpress.com<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Member<\/a>Police Service Commission member Martin George had warned commission members against raising the issue of the ethnic imbalance without studying the matter with proper documented material and coming to a common position.<\/p>\n

George gave his thoughts in an e-mail titled \u201cMeeting notes for PSC, February 3, 2011\u2033. The e-mail, which was sent to all members\u2014Nizam Mohammed, Addison Khan, Jacqueline Cheesman and Kenneth Parker\u2014was given to members of the media at the news conference held by the three commissioners on Monday at the Courtyard Marriott in Mucurapo.<\/p>\n

George said he saw the commission had the question of ethnic imbalance in the Police Service as an agenda item to raise with the Commissioner of Police today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like, before we seek to raise this, that we have some proper information on this issue because I hate going in blind on these situations. This comes back to the question of the secretariat and the support services. If we are to be seen as a serious body, then we are supposed to have the figures, the statistics and the reports; where are the official studies done which show the extent of this \u2018ethnic balance\u2019? What are the causative factors and the reasons therefore? How does it affect the service, if at all? Does it lower morale, productivity or efficiency? Does it lend itself to a less effective Police Service?\u201d George wrote in the e-mail.<\/p>\n

George noted it was Israel Khan SC \u201cwho in his defence of the chairman\u201d on this issue (the call by Fixin TnT for President George Maxwell Richards to revoke Mohammed\u2019s appointment), had also raised the question of ethnic imbalance in the Police Service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be reminded after all of our mandate and our remit. Ours is not an experiment in social engineering or affirmative action. Ours is clearly to monitor and manage the efficiency, performance and effectiveness of the Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioner of Police in their manage- ment and administration of the Police Service,\u201d George said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIf there is some report showing that there is ethnic imbalance in the Police Service and that this is affecting the management, performance and effectiveness of the Police Service, then we should have this and have a chance to study this beforehand, prior to going into a meeting and raising this with the CoP.\u201d<\/p>\n

George noted CoP Dwayne Gibbs was from a culture that is driven by reports, statistics and analyses, based upon research and clinically presented data.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would strongly suggest we spare ourselves this embarrassment by having proper documented material which we as a body can study first and come to a common position before we present a case to the CoP on this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.trinidadexpress.com\/news\/George__We_should_have_facts-119301869.html<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

S<\/a>TORY BY: TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO NEWS BLOG<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Race issue still to be addressed Published on\u00a0April 6, 2011\u00a0 April 5 2011 \u2013\u00a0newsday.co.tt THREE members appointed to the Police Service Commission (PSC) yesterday admitted that the issue of racial imbalance within the ranks of the Police Service is an issue that must be dealt with. But just not now. This, as they extended an \u201colive branch\u201d to fired PSC chairman Nizam Mohammed. At a press briefing held at the Marriott Hotel, Mucurapo, three members of the PSC revealed that the issue of racial imbalances within the Police Service was discussed informally prior to a meeting of the PSC…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}