Postby wickedtuna » August 10th, 2017, 1:41 am
Rambarat: I visited police range for training
Camille Clarke
Published:
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Agriculture Minister Clarance Rambarat at the Police Academy, St James.
Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Clarence Rambarat yesterday confirmed he has been visiting the Police Training Academy shooting range for his own personal safety, as his ministry is responsible for the second largest law enforcement units in the country.
He made the comment at a sod turning ceremony for the construction of a car park at the southern wholesale market in Debe.
Rambarat made the comment in the wake of a report earlier this week in which officers attached to the academy raised issue of a government official using the range for training.
The Police Social and Welfare body had called for a probe into the visits after a junior officer reported the visit of a former minister and his wife to the shooting range, noting civilians are not allowed on the range and it has also been condemned. The couple was also reportedly taken to the range by a senior officer who should be on pre-retirement leave. It was later realised, however, that it was in fact Rambarat and his wife.
In his defence yesterday, Rambarat said: “Every minister and public officials are required and put through security training and check in with a police station and be given advice.”
He said the Police Training Academy was near his place of residence, which was his chosen location for training.
“The police academy is close to where I live and my wife accompanies me from time to time and I am not treated different from any public office holder.”
Rambarat said he also visited the Academy for advice relating to the security units under his ministry’s purview.
“I go on ministry matters. As you know, apart from the Ministry of National Security I have secondary law enforcement units. I have the Praedial Larceny Squad, honorary game wardens, patrol men, forest officers, patrol men and estate constable. I go there for advice relating to firearms and equipping them with firearms and bullet proof training. I am simply doing my job,” he said.
Rambarat added in an interview with the T&T Guardian that he visited the academy several times and he was a Government minister and not classed as a civilian.
“I am not a civilian. I don’t know if that was a story. I was there not for the first time as a Government minster but related to security,” he said.
He said he was also not aware of any attempted disciplinary action being taken against the junior officer who reported his visit.
“I am not aware of that. I am not a civilian I am a Government minister and on matters of my personal security. I was there as a Government minister and as a minister you have personal security you need to deal with and there were facilities where I could get advice on matters of personal security. I have no interaction with anybody there on disciplinary action. I was there on matters relating to personal security,” he said.
He added: “My wife is my wife and it covers myself, my wife and my children. We get advice and you could only get advice from the Police Service.”
However, he denied the visit had anything to do with threats made against him.
“I have been there many times as a minster and as a minister it is something you do,” he said.
But one senior officer assigned to the academy yesterday said there were protocols to be observed, especially if a government official was visiting the premises.
“There are protocols you must follow. You need permission for any official visit at the academy compound. If you are a Government official it is considered an official visit and the senior superintendent and the commissioner must be informed that they’re coming on the ground and to shoot.”
The officer said it could not be a private arrangement, since the range was condemned and deemed non-safe by the commissioner.
“The residents complained over the noise and the commissioner said it was not to be used and the range was downgraded. You have basic protocol. People can’t just go on a shooting range without permission,” he said.
He said civilians who need to train and who are holders of firearm licences could use the shooting range at the Trinidad Rifle Association in Chaguaramas.
Meanwhile, Police Social and Welfare Association president Michael Seales said yesterday the disciplinary action against the officer who reported the visit had been discontinued. However, Seales said the association will take legal action against Williams if the senior officer who escorted the couple was still on active duty when he should be on pre-retirement.
