The con­tro­ver­sy over Gov­ern­ment’s mo­bile po­lice-army posts has widened in­to a de­bate over whether the dri­ve to im­prove pub­lic safe­ty is be­ing car­ried out with­in ex­ist­ing plan­ning, pro­cure­ment and mu­nic­i­pal laws.

For­mer St Au­gus­tine MP and at­tor­ney Prakash Ra­mad­har says the fo­cus should re­main on pro­tect­ing cit­i­zens, while at­tor­ney Saira Lakhan and for­mer Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Robert Le Hunte say the crime-fight­ing ob­jec­tive does not re­move ques­tions about what le­gal ap­provals may be re­quired.

The de­bate fol­lows the con­fronta­tion over the pro­posed mo­bile post at the Ed­die Hart Grounds, where the Tu­na­puna/Pi­ar­co Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion said it was not con­sult­ed be­fore works be­gan.