Police officers in possession of evidence exhibits which have been ordered destroyed by magistrates are being asked to surrender them.

Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert made the call at Police Administration Headquarters in Port of Spain yesterday as he honoured 55 officers attached to various units within the T&T Police Service.

Speaking with reporters following the ceremony, Philbert said: ’If there are things, whatever they are, bring it and explain why it’s there, and let us deal with it in a proper fashion. If there are breaches, we will deal with it...to believe you should head out to do otherwise is not the wise thing to do. We want accountability.’

Philbert said he has already sent out orders for commanders in various divisions to introduce special property keepers ’to pick up those things wherever they are’.

Although investigations are still ongoing and one officer is before the court after court exhibits which were ordered destroyed were allegedly found at his home, Philbert admitted the procedure used to monitor the exhibits was flawed.

’Some people may not understand a process and believe they will do things which will get them in trouble. The way the system has been organised allows people to keep things. Some keep them in good faith when the rightful thing is that it should not be in their possession but with the property keeper....’

The issue of officers keeping evidence exhibits in their possession has been an issue for some time now, Philbert said, adding the rule, as it stands now, is antiquated and does not offer officers an opportunity to ’save yourself’.

He said they were currently working on amending the Police Standing Orders to deal with this issue, adding the current rules do not specifically outline how narcotics should be kept, and in a lot of instances, a lot is dependent on the integrity of a person to do something. He said the entire system of exhibit collection will be revamped, and the ’downstream’ handover will soon be a thing of the past.

Philbert also said they were investigating an incident in which two officers were allegedly caught burning exhibits in a secluded area in D’Abadie earlier this week.

’I have an interim report...and we hope to have it completed in a short time, and then I will make a proper decision on what should be done,’ Philbert said.

Also present at the ceremony was president of the Police Social and Welfare Association Emrol Bruce, who told the Express that his association supports Philbert’s ’amnesty’ initiative.

’That is one of the options we will engage our officers in,’ Bruce said.

Saying there is a breakdown in the system which deals with exhibits ordered destroyed, Bruce said such an initiative will be supported and called on his members not to panic if they are in possession of such exhibits.

’We know you are not corrupted. We are asking you not to panic but adhere to what the commissioner has said,’ Bruce said.