PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – A prominent attorney has warned that it would be a backward step for Trinidad and Tobago if a foreigner is appointed to head the police force, after reports surfaced that a Canadian national has been recommended by the Police Service Commission for the top post.
“It is my considered view, in this day and age, no one, absolutely no one, should consider a foreigner to hold the position of Commissioner of Police,” said Senior Counsel Israel Khan, who has been practising criminal law here for the past 31 years.
“We will be moving backwards. We will be sending the wrong signals to the youths and the general population of this country. What we will be saying is there is no citizen of this country or member of the Police Service who is capable of handling this position.
“Do not tell me the law does not prohibit a foreigner to hold this position. Are we so colonised we cannot find a single local person to fill this important and sensitive position?” Khan wrote in a letter published in the media on Friday.
The Police Service Welfare Division has also raised objection to a foreigner being appointed to head the local police service.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar said that the Police Service Commission has recommended Canadian Neal Parker for the post.
Parker, a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer and Deputy Commissioner of Police in Antigua and Barbuda, was selected from among the applicants, and was shortlisted by Penn State University, which was contracted to review those who applied for the post.
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