Ag CoP: Secret Flying Squad illegal
...I am no part of this covert operation
Published:
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Anika Gumbs-Sandiford
Acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) Stephen Williams
Acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) Stephen Williams has described the secretly revived Flying Squad as illegal. In an exclusive interview with the T&T Guardian on Friday, retired police inspector Mervyn Cordner claimed Minister of National Security Jack Warner approached him to head the covert unit.
But yesterday, Williams distanced himself, saying, “I can speak for myself and say that I, acting CoP Stephen Williams, am not aware of and am no part of this covert operation. “I, Stephen Williams, never met Mervyn Cordner. I am speaking for myself. “The information brought to my attention is a matter that raises great concern of whether there is an illegal group purporting to do legal things.
“I would like to give the public the assurance I am going to get to the bottom of what has been revealed. This matter will be immediately investigated. I am thankful this matter has been brought to my attention. Anything illegal, I have to investigate. I have to find out if this is a vigilante unit. I am extremely concerned.”
The Flying Squad, which was disbanded in the 1980s, was revived in July 2012 and has been working out of a building at Factory Road, Golden Grove, Arouca. In a candid interview on Friday, Cordner said a crime plan was submitted to Warner and a budget of $180 million requested to carry out operations for a period of two years.
However, Cordner said, the lack of funding has stumped the work of the unit. The Flying Squad, according to Cordner, comprises 75 retired officers who previously worked at various state enterprises that include the police, prison service, Immigration Division, Telecommunication Authority of T&T and the T&T Electricity Commission.
Reiterating his concern over the revelations, Williams said, “A Flying Squad is a law-enforcement unit set up for a particular purpose of high-activity enforcement in T&T. “I cannot speak for Cordner’s claim. What I can say is that I have never engaged Cordner and 75 other people.
“I have never been part of a meeting with Minister of National Security and Cordner. Any meeting Cordner would have had with anybody, it was not with me. You need to speak to the relevant minister and Cordner,” Williams stressed.
Covert operations and the Ministry of National Security
Williams said the setting up of such a unit should be endorsed by the commissioner of police, but he had not given any such authorisation. He pointed out that historically, covert operations functioned under the Ministry of National Security. Among them, he said, were the Strategic Intelligence Agency, Strategic Service Agency and the Special Anti-Crime Unit of T&T (SAUTT).
“It is normal for the Ministry of National Security to have covert operations, but when you are dealing with law enforcement, those people operate under the authority of the CoP. When SAUTT operated, the officers who were assigned to SAUTT operated under the authority of the CoP,” Williams said.
SAUTT was established in 2003 and disbanded in August 2011 by the People’s Partnership Government. Williams said he learned of the Flying Squad from the story in yesterday’s T&T Guardian. “I will admit it is the first time I have heard of this covert operation headed by Mervyn Cordner.” He dismissed Cordner’s claim that the unit had been instrumental in solving six murders. “That is a stupid story,” he commented.
“Cordner is not contributing directly or indirectly to the homicide bureau of the Police Service of T&T.” Cordner had said information gathered by the unit was passed on to various police divisions to assist in the fight against crime.
Commenting on the developments yesterday, head of the Police Complaints Authority Gillian Lucky said any entity dealing with law enforcement must work within a legal framework. “Any entity that is involved in law enforcement must be structured in such a way that there is total accountability and transparency.
“One must remember that when SAUTT was established, a major complaint made by the then Opposition was that SAUTT was operating outside of a legal framework,” Lucky pointed out. She said any organisation, institution or department involved in investigating highly sensitive matters or engaged in any kind of law-enforcement activity, must work within the parameters of the law and must account to an independent entity or authority.
Lucky added that the public was entitled to know of the existence of such an entity. “I am well aware that when conducting investigations there is a need to be discreet,” Lucky added. “I am not saying the entity is acting outside the law, but there seem to be more questions than answers.”
Cordner: My informants have information on Mohammed
Cordner also said an informant is probing Dr Hafizool Ali Mohammed, a member of the commission of enquiry into the 1990 coup attempt whose academic qualifications have come under scrutiny. Among numerous other academic credentials, Mohammed said he has a master’s degree in military science from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
His curriculum vitae does not state what year he graduated. His master’s thesis is not published on the college’s Web site, unlike those of fellow graduates, such as retired Major Gen Edmund Dillon, who graduated in 2001. According to the Web site, the last T&T national to graduate from the university, in 2009, at the rank of Lt Col, was Rodney Smart.
Cordner said the question must be asked who was responsible for bringing Mohammed to T&T. “Somebody brought him,” Cordner pointed out. Mohammed expressed a keen interest in assisting with national security measures in T&T and had contacted Warner to say so. He also made contact with Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran via e-mail in 2010.
The Government is expected to make a decision next week on Mohammed’s status as a commissioner in the enquiry into the 1990 coup attempt. Telephone calls to Warner went unanswered yesterday.
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