And being dealt with on any level is something that's mostly foreign to ACP Marco Vidal. As commander of operations - he held broad and magisterial sway over a wide range of police activities - and was considered a close and trusted ally of Commissioner Chester Williams - which made him effectively the third in command of the department - even while he may have been fourth or fifth on the organisational chart.
And that's why his Commander Operations Strike Team - COST for short - was allowed mostly free reign. That is until earlier this year when the Commandeer fo the Anti Narcotics Unit complained in writing that the movements of this COST team, could end up costing a police officer his life. Referring to COST, ASP Lennox Broaster wrote to the Commissioner: "entities that do not have counter-narcotics as part of their mandate are engaging in these types of activities without consulting the ANU…Duplication of efforts is evident with the creation of a special team to conduct counter-drug operation…There is a high potential for blue on blue - (meaning police accidentally shooting one another) - with special teams being deployed in crucial areas of concern unknown…for interdiction of illicit aircraft." end quote.
But how did Vidal's COST team get so empowered? Instead of looking over to his COMPOL, the Minister said ask his UDP predecessors:
Reporter
"Have you ascertained for yourself how that unit even came about? I'm sure you've heard about the allegation that it was a duplication of efforts because there's the Anti-Narcotics Unit. So how does the Vidal end up with this elite team that's also going after officers? A lot of questions are being raised in relation to that."
Hon. Kareem Musa, Min. Home Affairs
"It was a special strike team that was formed under the former administration. As I understand it, Marisol a lot of the members of the COST team were under Vidal when he was at GSU and then when this COST team was formed, like I said, under the last administration, you'd have to ask them. It may be Mr. Peyreffite or Mr. Saldivar their intention behind this, this formation of this specialized unit, perse. But I agree with you there are there is a duplication of efforts because we do have JIOC, we do have the ANU, like you rightly said these are actual units that deal with specifically dealing with drug busts and dealing with with plane landings, so to speak. And so yes, this this might look like a duplication of effort, but you'd have to look at the intention for which this was formed. Like I said, they're responsible for a lot of drug busts. And so I don't want to take that away from them at this very moment. But the fact that they were found at this particular plane landing, it has to be uprooted. It has to be dismantled. No questions asked."
Musa stressed a number of times that the COST team has been dismantled. As we said, 4 of its 7 members have been charged - 3 of them for involvement with the narco plane.
