AG: Off-duty prison officers to have guns

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

File photo: Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC.

Attorney General Reginald Armour has announced a planned amendment to the Firearms Act that would allow the Commissioner of Prisons to give off-duty prison officers permission to carry guns.

During his contribution to the Senate budget debate on Friday afternoon, Armour outlined several pieces of legislation to be focused on.

Among them, he said, national security was a major priority for the government.

Referring to the murders of off-duty prison officers, he said the proposed amendment directly seeks to protect officers better.

“The proposed amendment to the Firearms Act is in direct response to, among other things, the recent and disturbing trend which sees the brutal public executions of serving prison officers.”

He said this bill will empower the Commissioner of Prisons to let a prison officer have a gun or ammunition while off-duty or in any public place where the commissioner considers the officer’s life or safety under threat from the public.

Armour said the amendments would work in tandem with other regulatory changes on the possession and ownership of assault weapons.

Contacted for comment, acting Prisons Commissioner Deopersad Ramoutar said he had no insight on the proposed amendments, but supported the decision.

He also stressed that once the amendments were finalised, the prison service would work within the law to ensure officers benefited.

“The prison service has a rigorous assessment process, so if and when such an authority is granted, we will ensure that the officers are accommodated.

“The commissioner, by due process, will do what is necessary to support the principle which the law was designed to achieve.”

Ramoutar added that he was doing his best to reduce tension between prison officers and prisoners, and hoped to foster a more peaceful environment by reducing officers’ abuse of authority and inmate violence.

“I am trying as much as possible to reduce the tension between inmates and officers by asking officers, while they do their job, to focus on the rehabilitation

“The inmates should not see us as doing them harm. At the same time, the behaviour-changing of the inmates will allow them to have introspection and be remorseful for the wrong things they have done, and we will have a paradigm shift in the way officers view inmates and inmates view officers.

“In a nutshell, it’s planting the seed of goodness into the hearts and minds of inmates and my staff.”

Also contacted for comment, president of the Prison Officers Association Ceron Richards said he too was pleased with the proposed amendment, as it would ensure officers’ safety.

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