Senior T&T cop Michael Sooker suspended

The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) says a senior officer has been suspended as the probe continues into the circumstances that led to pictures of a scantily dressed woman wearing the uniform of a senior police officer being posted on a social media network. In a statement issued late Monday the TTPS said that the Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams had “issued a suspension notice to be served on Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police, Michael Sooker, of the North Eastern Division, relative to an allegation of discreditable conduct linked to photographs that surfaced on social media last week.”

Last week, Williams called on the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB) to initiate an immediate investigation into the matter. ‘PCB has been given clear directions that the matter is to be treated with a level of urgency so that the appropriate action ca be taken,” the statement said. President of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Social and Welfare Association, Inspector Michael Seales, said the photos had brought the entire police service into further disrepute in the eyes of the public and urged Williams to take a strong stand. It is against the law for anyone to wear a police officer’s uniform unless authorized by the Commissioner of Police. The woman in the photo appears to be a Latin American national and media reports here said that several police officers were allegedly doing “favors” for Latino women, most of whom are believed to have entered into the country illegally. The Trinidad Guardian newspaper quoting a police source, reported that “many Venezuelan women who are allegedly caught and found to be here illegally are said to be offering sexual favors for the dropping of any charges or possible handing over to Immigration officers.”