A senior police officer attached to the Special Branch has been placed on Administrative Leave. This is after it was revealed in a video that he was having a discussion with a gang affiliated personality - and disclosing very sensitive information about a criminal informant. At the time, he was in the GSU. The information that we saw could easily put a life in grave danger, since it exposed a criminal operative as a police informer.
Here at 7News, we have been aware of this video for some time now - and raised it with the Commissioner a year ago. But, at the time he said he did not have the evidence that we have seen. Well, he has seen it now - and that's why this senior officer has been placed on administrative leave.
We asked the Compol to elaborate today:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Indeed yes a video came forward with somebody sounding like the officer we are talking about where there were some exchange of information and since then I have placed the officer on administrative leave and we have an internal investigation underway to ascertain if in fact there were some breach and the extent of that breach and then based on that then we are going to see how we proceed from there."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"How does it affect, it at all, that this officer is known to be your close personal friend?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I'm not going to run away from it, Mr. Lorenzo is my friend. I am not going to run away from my friend. You are my friend too Jules and when you do things that I'm not pleased about I still regard you as a friend. That does not change the fact."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"But sir, if you've done something like this, like what is alleged and what we have seen on that video, you can't be in the police if you are snitching on criminal informants. You're putting people's lives in danger."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well that is something the disciplinary board is going to look at, because eventually that is where it is going to."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"He should resign."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We can't force him to resign. That's a matter for him."
