As we told you last week, the Police Association has commissioner Chester Williams in court. The association - or at least its Chairman, Corporal Sheldon Arzu - is seeking judicial review of a statutory instrument which Williams signed giving any chairman a two term limit. Arzu is on his sixth term. That's the cruz of a multi-faceted dispute in which NTUCB supports the police association. Today, Williams said the NTUCB needs to stay out of police business:..
Chester Williams- Commissioner of Police
"I have seen a press release by the NTUCB, I have also seen Ms. Elena Smith give an interview on the tv. They are jumping into something they have no business in. They need to understand, first and foremost, that the police association is not a union. If you go to our constitution, it clearly states that while people can be a part of unions and so forth, police and members of our security forces are forbidden from being members of unions. So, they must not try to confuse the association with a union. What I saw where Ms. Elena Smith was saying that if you are not a paying member of this and that; that is foolishness. The commissioner of police has the responsibility of looking after the interest of every member of this department, from the lowest rank to the highest rank. And if paying members of the association are asking the commissioner what is being done to the money they are paying to the association, the commissioner should be able to have an answer. And if the commissioner is to give an instruction to the chairman, the chairman is expected to comply with that instruction. If you know that you are running the affairs of the association's accounts in such a way that is lawful and you are not doing anything illegal, then why are you afraid to submit an audit of the accounts? The current chairman, which by law, Mr. Arzu cannot be the chairman, has been there for six years. And he, over that six years period has not produced any audit of the association's accounts. That is not his personal account. So, it is incumbent on him to ensure that he accounts to the members of the association, as well as to the commissioner who has the interest of all the members of the police department as to the situation of the association accounts."
Jules Vasquez- Reporter
"And he said he can't provide it because we need to know the status of the fund. You as the commissioner or the senior rank of the department administers a police trust fund. Why don't you all provide the audit for that?"
Chester Williams
"You can't tell your superior, you won't do this unless he does that. There is no reason why the police association can not be audited without the others. If it were that they were so akin to each other, then I could understand. But the association accounts can be audited without the police trust fund be audited. I personally, I don't want to have a fight with nobody. But at the same time I am not going to allow a person who, for his own aggrandizement, wants to defy instructions. It cannot happen. The police department is a disciplined organization. We are creatures of instruction. And when an instruction is given to a member, once that instruction is lawful that member is expected to comply. And so, as it relates to that whole issue, I am confident that at the end of the day the court is going to rule in my favor."
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