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The re­cent court or­der paving the way for the re­in­state­ment of Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Er­la Hare­wood-Christo­pher has trig­gered re­newed con­cerns about in­sta­bil­i­ty and pub­lic trust in the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS).

This was the con­cern of for­mer Po­lice Ser­vice Com­mis­sion (PolSC) mem­ber and Sev­enth-day Ad­ven­tist pas­tor Clive Dot­tin yes­ter­day, as he said the sit­u­a­tion has cre­at­ed a cri­sis of con­fi­dence and could deep­en in­sti­tu­tion­al dis­com­fort with­in the ranks.

“I must tell you that these are some anx­ious mo­ments and mu­tu­al loss of trust and con­fi­dence in the hi­er­ar­chy of the po­lice ser­vice. This case has not helped it when you have a po­lice com­mis­sion­er be­ing ar­rest­ed. The pub­lic, it must be ex­pect­ed, will con­tin­ue to lose con­fi­dence in the po­lice ser­vice.”