(Trinidad Guardian) 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 on Saturday, 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 TT$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.
