00:00In an immediate response to the Prison Officers Association, ASP Ishmael Plitt says the accusations are disingenuous.
00:08He tells us while he empathizes with prison officers' plights, police officers are also struggling with infrastructural and security issues.
00:17It's not that we are being meted out for any special treatment.
00:21I must say that we have seen some traction and we continue to see traction.
00:26We may not have been where we used to be, but we are yet to be where we want to
00:31be.
00:32So it's a work in progress.
00:33But to think that because who the Homeland Security Minister was prior, that we are being meted out for special
00:41treatment. No.
00:42Plitt adds that every prison officer's death is thoroughly investigated,
00:46and he rejects what he believes is an attempt to hold police responsible for those losses.
00:52I am very, very disappointed this morning that my comrade, my colleague, could come out and try to paint a
01:03picture in the national domain
01:04that the police is somewhat responsible for what is happening in the prison service.
01:09Now, the issues that he raised are also issues that plague the Trinidad Tobega Police Service.
01:16So, straight out, police officers being murdered, that is not something that is only limited to the prison service.
01:25The association president tells the morning edition he is deeply aggrieved that police officers are being portrayed as responsible for
01:34dangers they, too, are working to confront.
01:36My comrade spoke of issues regarding corruption, and it happens in the police service, and it happens in the judiciary.
01:46The reality is, we would conduct a raid in the prisons today, seize a number of cell phones,
01:53and then tomorrow we will conduct another raid, or even this afternoon, and we will get more cell phones.
02:00How the cell phones are reaching into the prisons?
02:02Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
