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And while police aggressively hunt those SOE suspects - the Commissioner is at the U.N. in New York, attending the United Nations Chiefs of Police conference.
Sounds important, but he left the same day the SOE was launched. Yesterday, Jules Vasquez challenged him on that, asking if he abandoned his post:
Jules Vasquez:
You declare a state of emergency, and within hours you went to the states.
But sir, it is not a good look. You've abandoned your post.
Chester Williams,Commissioner of Police
"I made sure that the bad guys were picked up and imprisoned before I left."
Jules Vasquez:
"Obviously not all of them, sir. You had some gone shoot up your house."
"Sir, but this is a serious question though, you come back on Sunday, which is late, might I add, because you were supposed come back from the 20th, you never came back until Sunday."
"And then you didn't have Commanders' Conference on Monday. You're went to PG to give a motivational speech at a school. So no commanders conference. Although we're in the throes of a crime crisis, you declare an SOE on Tuesday morning and then you bold to the United States. You're abandoning your post. Sir."
Chester Williams,Commissioner of Police
"I don't know where you got that from, Jules."
"I went back the exact day I was supposed to go back, my conference finishes on Friday. I left Saturday, I had to overnight in Miami. And then I went to Belize on Sunday."
"And in terms of conference, I spoke to those officers who I needed to speak to, to ensure that what, needs to be put in place was in place. And I communicated with my minister, and the Prime minister in terms of, the SOE and what we would want to achieve and then the planning process was done and it was executed."
"In terms of the school, I had promised these students that I would be there, guest speaker for their graduation. I would not have been contented leaving them hanging because they were really excited to see me. And again, it goes to show, Jules, that as much as you may say, that people don't like the commissioner. The commissioner…I did six guest speaking job this graduation period, six at six different schools. So it goes to show how much I am respected, within the younger population and even among the older population like yours."
The commissioner is expected to return on the weekend.
