Part Three: Randolph Burroughs, the legendary Police Commissioner (1978-1984) in his own words, explains that in 1984 amidst “overbearing politics in the Police Service” he travelled to the US to take files to the FBI, ATF and the even the Drug Enforcement Agency DEA. At home in Trinidad, the white-collar criminals panicked. ( Read Below)
Part Two: Outlines how VIPs created his downfall as he investigated the Foreign Currency racket and traces how businessmen and drug dealers became entwined and also crippled his effectiveness and by extension, the TT Police Service.
Part One: Burroughs established that the Narcotics Squad was involved in the Cocaine Trade, worked with police in Tucupita to bust an arms smuggling ring in the Chatham -Erin-Cedros area and suggested an amalgamation of police, customs, immigration, Coast Guard and Army to deal with the problem.
The excerpt is from his unpublished biography which explains, in detail, how he was framed to be removed from office and which also, through the cases he worked and solved as a detective, chronicles TT’s crime history.
A Criminal Intelligence Unit that was sabotaged.
During the early part of 1984, I spent a lot of time establishing new units to fight crime. Harking back to the cocaine explosion and EC-O crackdown, a Piarco Police Post was set up with members of the Police Flying Squad and the Narcotics Unit, as well as Customs officers.
The Narcotics Unit was also revitalized by some members of the Flying Squad who had done work in that particular field.Assistant Superintendent David Jack, who had formerly headed the Flying Squad was put in charge of a Special Robbery Squad and the Criminal Intelligence Unit was created at the old Flying Squad office and was headed by Assistant Superintendent Cecil Carrington, a founding member of the Flying Squad.
And then, to back them all up, a Support Services Unit comprising 56 men was established at the St James Barracks.
In reality, the Flying Squad was not disbanded as rumor had it at the time.
The rearrangement was done in such a way that, at a moment’s notice, the units could all be merged to effect the same operations as before.
If anything, the squad had been decentralized in order to provide an easy opportunity for its personnel to perform under immediate supervision from the police hierarchy.
I knew I would not always be there to lead them.
In fact, I had decided to apply for accumulated leave-167 days- from June 1984.
It was a chance for me to see about my wife Sheila’s health and to get away from the overbearing politics in the Police Service.
I would give those who felt they could run the Service and undermine me a chance to perform.
Let them have a go at it.
The leave was subsequently approved on condition that I could be contacted, on short notice, to resume duties.
I travelled to Ocala, Florida where Sheila had an appointment to do some tests, with the possibility of surgery at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital.
But while I was there I became very ill with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized.
During that time, however, I kept in contact with Trinidad and found out about the many changes that had taken place in the short time I had been away.
For example, all the units that I had recently launched to deal with the escalating crime situation, had been disbanded by Clive Sealy, who was acting as Commissioner. Persons who had been transferred during my time, for whatever reasons, were also brought back to the CID.
Among them was Ulric Sanoir, whom I had transferred for an act of indiscipline after an investigation by Cyracius Liverpool.
As time went by the news from home became more disturbing.
By then, they were working feverishly on the Garvin Scott Drug Report, which had been commissioned in February of that year, and my information was that several of the persons who had crossed my path- and many of whom had been transferred- were called in to testify before the Commission of Inquiry headed by Scott, a former Court of Appeal judge.
For example, they got Superintendent Owen Quintin- whom I had reported to the Police Service Commission (PSC) for trying to seek his individual claim for promotion ( which was a serious breach) to give a statement.
So that by the time I returned home in October I was ready to start preparing a dossier to present to the probers.
But, I waited and I hoped for a call to testify, but it never came.
In January 1985, I decided to take my wife back to Miami for medical treatment.
Before leaving, however, I spoke to Lance Selman, who as Head of the Special Branch at the time was in liaison with various Embassies.
I asked him to inform the US Embassy that I would be in Miami and that I had information which I would like to pass on to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
Those instructions were obviously obeyed, as while I was staying at the Tides Hotel on Miami Beach, I received a call from Gerry Forrester, the Caribbean Liaison Officer for the FBI, and we arranged a meeting the following morning.
Forrester took me to the FBI Director in Miami and I was eventually turned over to the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) Branch, whom I presented with a file on persons involved in gun running in and out of Trinidad and Tobago.
Even though I was on vacation and had not resumed duties, I was acting officially and collecting a lot of information from the US Authorities.
When I finally returned to Trinidad on March 1st I wanted to show them that I was ready and running.
For the first time, that year, I missed being at home for Carnival.
It fell on February 18th and 19th but the Miami police asked me to stay on, and the investigations were not yet completed.
So that while Sheila returned home on Carnival Saturday, two days before the mas parade, I did not get home until late Ash Wednesday (February 20th).
It was only later that I would remember a telephone call that came to me while I was at the ATF office.
It was from a Special Branch Officer who was an inspector at our foreign office in New York, Lloyd Joseph.
How did he know I was there?
He said he had simply called to get some information and they told him his boss was there.
Little did I know that some big shots in Trinidad had become scared knowing I was talking to the FBI, ATF and the even possible the Drug Enforcement Agency DEA.
It seemed as if people were trying to track my every movement in the USA.
Even the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) had started to press the panic button because they didn’t know what to expect.. and I was about to return home and resume duties.
Knowlson Gift who was then a local diplomat in Jamaica travelled home on the same flight with me, and I later dropped him off at the Trinidad Hilton Hotel before I went home.
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| Knowlson Gift |
The next day, Sunday, I left for Tobago to complete my vacation, taking with me all the documents I needed to prepare to resume duties the following week.
I still had no idea whatsoever of the catastrophe and bacchanal that lay ahead.
Stay tuned for Part Four.
