Failure to render assistant to a police officer

The maxi driver was detained yesterday at City Gate in Port of Spain.
On Tuesday, officers from the Port of Spain Division were attempting to make an arrest; however, the maxi driver said no.

He told his colleagues later that he felt unsafe and unwilling to do so because of the state of crime in the country, and he did not want to be targeted by any retaliatory actions.

Yesterday, officers went to City Gate and detained the driver.

He was told he was being held under the Police Service Act.

Up to 7 p.m. yesterday, officials in the Port of Spain Division confirmed the driver had been held, but they could not say that he had been charged under the act.

According to Section 60 of the Police Service Act, Chapter 15:01, if a person is called upon by a police officer who is in the process of making an arrest or being assaulted, and fails to do so, they can be arrested, charged, and face either a fine or jail time upon summary conviction.

The act says: 'If a person is called upon to assist a police officer who is, while in the execution of his duty, assaulted or resisted or in danger of being assaulted or resisted, and such person refuses or neglects to assist accordingly without reasonable cause, he is liable on summary conviction to a fine of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and to imprisonment for one year.'

It was amended in 2019, Miscellaneous Provisions (Law Enforcement Act 25 of 2019) in which the penalties were increased to $10,000 and three-years of imprisonment.