PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — The Police Social and Welfare Association (PSWA) yesterday welcomed an announcement by Attorney General Anand Ramlogan for mandatory drug and lie detector tests for police officers in Trinidad and Tobago.

However, PSWA General Secretary Michael Seales said while his organisation, in principle, has no objection to the initiative, there were still a number of concerns to be dealt with.

“This is something the association would welcome, but would say from the onset what next. What will happen after if you do discover that an officer is using illicit drugs or you discovered that he has lied?

“What next and that’s one of the clear concerns that we have with it and we will invite the attorney general… to consult with us in terms of reaching a resolution in that area because we have suggestions that are workable in that area”.

Ramlogan, speaking to reporters after a government delegation met with members of the main opposition People’s National Movement to discuss ways of dealing with the crime situation here, said that he had raised “very forcefully the matter of mandatory drug testing for all police officers and mandatory polygraph testing for all police officers not only upon entry into the police service”.

He said the tests would also be done “intermittently and periodically” and would in particular, include those police officers “serving in sensitive units in the Police Service.

“I feel very strongly about this matter, I think it is important that we understand that despite our best efforts the operational aspects of the Police Service will be compromised. If you have one bad apple it will spoil the whole bunch,” he said.

The attorney general said that the random tests would ensure that police officers were not “leaking” information to criminals, and were “long overdue”.

Seales said his association has also suggested “a systematic confidential approach to whistle-blowing to complement what he (the attorney general) has suggested”.

Ramlogan also told reporters that he had also raised, during the meeting with the opposition, the possibility of amending the Bail Act which would say one strike and you are out.

“If you have been convicted for a violent crime, a gun-related offence or an offence involving drug trafficking or drug possession above a certain amount then, if within 10 years, you are subsequently charged for the same offence I propose to use the anti-gang formula where you are denied bail for 120 days.”

He said if an application for bail is made after that period “it will be a matter for a judge to decide at his discretion whether or not bail ought to be granted based on the readiness of the prosecution to commence the trial”.