Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher was released from custody earlier today without charge after two days of interrogation over the importation of two high-powered sniper rifles for the Strategic Services Agency (SSA).
Former SSA director Major Roger Best, who was being held at the Belmont Police Station in connection with the probe, was released at 4 p.m.
As Harewood-Christopher emerged from the St Clair Police Station at 5.48 p.m. dressed in a black jacket over a yellow and black dress, her attorney, Senior Counsel Pamela Elder, described the ordeal as outrageous, and warned that the matter was not over just yet.
Speaking to the media on behalf of her client outside the police station, Elder said that she had advised her client to remain silent. She said that while Harewood-Christopher wished to speak on the matter, she advised her this was not the time.
Elder stated, “The Commissioner of Police was questioned not as a person the officers wanted information (from), but she was cautioned, and we all know—or we should know—that a caution is administered to a person against whom the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect the person had committed an offence.”
Elder stressed that from her estimation, if it was left to the interrogating police officer, Harewood-Christopher may have been charged, “because from the time you tell a person under caution, a person who you have cautioned, and you start telling the person, ‘I have evidence you did this’—and we all know if you have evidence, you do not even question the person; you charge.”
Elder said that she sat through the Commissioner’s interview with her junior attorney Russell Warner, and at the end, it was certain to all present that there was no evidence against Harewood-Christopher.
Elder asked who was the senior police officer that authorised the arrest of the Police Commissioner, adding there were no grounds to do so. “Certain aspects of that interview were unfair to the Commissioner. I will just give you one example…it is rather odd that it was a very junior officer interrogating the Commissioner of Police,” she said.
Elder commended Harewood-Christopher’s strength, saying she was calm throughout the process. “I want to assure the nation that they should maintain faith in the Commissioner of Police. She is a strong woman. Maintain faith in that office-holder…maintain faith in the Director of Public Prosecutions, who was strong enough—I will put it in very simple words—to tell the police officers: ‘Look, get away from here and release the Commissioner’.”
Elder continued: “So, one wonders: what was the basis for the arrest? And this is what I keep asking: why wasn’t she questioned without an arrest?” She noted that during the questioning, Harewood-Christopher was told that the officers had evidence that her client, along with others, had unlawfully procured the firearms and ammunition, “and the question I asked of the officer (was): who are the other persons? If you are telling my client that you have evidence that she and other persons did an unlawful act, fairness dictates that you identify the other persons. And the response of that officer was that he would not divulge the names of the other persons.”
Who plotted against the top cop?
Elder also said she was satisfied that the DPP’s office demonstrated that a separation of powers existed within the State’s legal mechanism. However, she said that she was interested in knowing the identity of the person who orchestrated the plot against Harewood-Christopher. “Was it designed to humiliate the Commissioner? Is there a hidden agenda somewhere there? These are questions which will be answered. But as her attorney, I will advise her that this matter should not rest here.”
Responding to questions from reporters outside the police station, Elder said that in terms of seeking legal redress or her client’s capacity to return to work, that would be something that she would have to sit and discuss with Harewood-Christopher. “As I said, she has endured two days of questioning, and I think it’s time she goes home and puts her head on her own pillow,” Elder said, adding that they would have to put pen to paper.
Asked what was the Commissioner’s state of mind over the past two days, considering that the arrest not only played out in the public domain but was also undertaken by some of Harewood-Christopher’s colleagues, Elder responded, “Well, not only officers who you thought you could trust, but officers that you believed had a certain degree of competence. So, as I said, it was traumatic for her, but she remained stoic throughout, and I commend her for that.”
The Express understands that the Police Service Commission (PolSC) is seeking legal action on how to proceed, given that the top cop has been released without charge. (Trinidad Express)
