In Brief
- The Lockdown: Commissioner of Police (CoP) Allister Guevarro has defended his decision to invoke the Special Operations Act in the Maloney Gardens Housing Development, which granted emergency police powers and instituted a 9 pm to 5 am curfew following recent gun violence.
- CoP Slams Critics: Speaking on Wednesday, Guevarro said residents welcomed the security forces with ‘gratitude’ and “relief,” while blasting online critics sitting behind ‘remote-control gates’ who failed to speak out against gang members.
- Opposition Pushback: Arouca/Lopinot MP Marvin Gonzales criticised Guevarro for spending most of his press briefing reacting to social media commentary, telling the Police Commissioner that criticism ‘comes with the job’ and urging him to ‘man up.’
By Alicia Chamely
Commissioner of Police (CoP) Allister Guevarro is lashing out at critics who denounced the lockdown of the Maloney Gardens Housing Development, asking where their outrage was regarding gang members and crime.
Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday at the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) Administration Building in Port of Spain, Guevarro addressed online criticism of his decision to enact the provisions of the Special Operations Act, which granted emergency police powers in the development and instituted a curfew from 9 pm to 5 am.
Guevarro said he visited the area on Tuesday night following the commencement of the curfew and was met with “gratitude” and “relief” from residents who, he added, “only hours before had been forced to duck and run from indiscriminate gunfire.”
He said what he did not see or hear were the “people who took to social media to criticise the TTPS for taking action geared towards saving lives.”
Saying that “not one of these critics took to social media to speak out against the gangsters,” and that “the silence was deafening,” Guevarro noted the same critics were only “out and bad” when “me and my officers act to save lives within the community.”
Taking aim at his detractors, he said, “What I find remarkable is that while residents on the ground are expressing appreciation for the measures, there are those persons who spend the night safely in their homes, protected in their air-conditioned, comfortable bedrooms behind the high remote-control gates, who now seek to criticise the actions taken to protect the vulnerable citizens living under the threat of armed violence.”
“I make absolutely no apology for taking any and all reasonable and lawful measures necessary to save lives. The overwhelming majority of residents whom I encountered understood that reality [and] welcomed the presence of police officers and soldiers,” he said.
Arouca/Lopinot MP Marvin Gonzales responds: Criticism comes with the job
Responding to Guevarro’s remarks, Arouca/Lopinot Member of Parliament Marvin Gonzales fired back, telling the CoP that criticism comes with the job and urging him to “man up.”
Speaking at an Opposition press conference held shortly after the TTPS briefing, Gonzales addressed Guevarro’s comments regarding the public backlash.
Gonzales said he “was very disappointed that the Commissioner of Police utilised 80 per cent of the time allocated to him in his press conference criticising those who criticise him on social media. That is very unfortunate, and when a Commissioner of Police is so reactive to public criticism, that to me is a very uncomfortable situation for us here in Trinidad and Tobago because it comes with the job. You cannot occupy high office in Trinidad and Tobago and be concerned as to what people say about you on social media.”
“It comes with the territory. Get accustomed to it,” he added.
Taking a jab at Guevarro, Gonzales said, “If you are spending all of that time on social media, then I have to ask the question: How much time do you spend doing the work that taxpayers are paying you to do?”
“So, Commissioner of Police, I want to tell you: criticisms come with the job. Get accustomed to it. Man up to it,” he said.
