PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, – Trinidad’s Commissioner of Police, Erla Harewood-Christopher, was released from police custody on Saturday after being detained at the St. Clair Police Station. Her detention was in connection with an investigation into the illegal acquisition of high-powered rifles.
“What happened here is an outrage. It is outrageous because the Commissioner of Police was questioned, not as a person from whom the officers wanted information, but she was cautioned. And we all know, or should know, that a caution is administered to a person against whom the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect has committed an offence,” said the commissioner’s lawyer, Pamela Elder SC, while speaking with reporters following Harewood-Christopher’s release.
Elder also raised concerns about the decision to detain her client.
“My client has endured two days of unrelenting questioning and interrogation. She has endured this interrogation as a suspect who has been cautioned, and in light of the ordeal she has faced, I have advised her that though she wishes to speak, this is not the time.
“The burning question I would like answered is: ‘Who is the senior officer that authorized the arrest of the Commissioner of Police on material that did not establish grounds for suspicion?’”
Harewood-Christopher was arrested hours after being questioned at the Police Administration Headquarters in Port of Spain on Thursday afternoon.
Her detention followed the arrest of former Director of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), Roger Best, as police continue to investigate the alleged illegal procurement of sniper rifles, presumably for use within the SSA.
In February 2023 the Trinidad Parliament unanimously approved the nomination of Erla Harewood-Christopher who was the Deputy Police Commissioner at the time, to become Trinidad and Tobago’s first female police commissioner.
