IN an attempt to weed out criminal elements from within the protective services and other state agencies, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds drafted legislation to conduct random “integrity testing.”
In a WhatsApp response to Sunday Newsday on Friday, Hinds said the draft legislation, which will be an amendment to the Judicial and Legal Service Act, seeks to make the random integrity testing legal.
“While at the office of the Attorney General, working alongside the legal drafters there, I drafted a policy and a bill to treat with integrity testing.
“In terms of its scope, it covers the Defence Force, police, fire service, Customs, Immigration, Board of Inland Revenue (BIR), the Registrar General’s Department and the the Financial Intelligence Unit.”
He said there are state agencies that process birth and death certificates and administer and maintain land titles. The random integrity testing will be to ensure that they remain faithful to their oaths, Hinds said.
The idea of increased accountability was first raised by Hinds at the passing-out parade of the Defence Force at Tetron Barracks, Chaguaramas on June 3. He said then that there is now a thorough and vigorous vetting process for recruiting members.
The comment came the same day a Galil rifle was discovered missing from the barracks and a $75,000 reward offered. The gun was found in some bushes off Macqueripe Road, Chaguaramas, on Friday.
Hinds said, “The event of the missing firearm, which occurred in the Defence Force is one of far too many events and incidents, which plagues the TTDF and other agencies of national security and the state sector as a whole. Too often, individuals who seek state and state sector jobs, and get them, turn around and act in ways embarrassing and harmful to the state and public interest. These acts or failure to act, makes us vulnerable. They erode public trust and confidence; and deplete state resources.”
The idea of using polygraph testing to unearth possible corrupt state officials is not novel. Former police commissioner Gary Griffith, when he was appointed in 2018, attempted to introduce random polygraph testing.
Officers who refused, threatened to sue, claiming it was illegal for them to be subjected to random lie detector testing.
Some officers were transferred out of specialised units for refusing to submit themselves to testing. A year later, Griffith remained adamant. At a media briefing he identified some questions that would have been posed to members of the Southern Division, who initially refused to be tested. The questions were: “Did you benefit financially from illegal drugs or weapons entering the country? Do you provide escort or support for the entry of illegal drugs, weapons or human trafficking?” Griffith added then that: “If someone has an issue with that, something is really wrong because I think as police officers, we will be willing to have ourselves put forward under a microscope at times because we have a very important role to play.”
Human resource specialist and former
