Over 3,000 people tuned in to a Twitter Space on Tuesday to interact with and pose questions to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi.
The Space, which is a live audio conversation on the social media platform only available on mobile devices, was hosted by journalist Kejan Haynes.
Most of the two-hour discussion centred on clarifying sections of the emergency regulations, as well as the public health regulations, vaccinations, and pepper spray.
Al-Rawi said if the police are entering someone’s premises, they must have reasonable suspicion for doing so.
“Reasonable suspicion is well understood in the laws of Trinidad and Tobago. You could enter reasonably in the beginning and then find yourself there unreasonably, and then find yourself – the State, TT – finding itself in circumstances where you have to pay damages.”
He addressed the fears people have expressed about police behaviour, based on where they live.
“Everybody is good when they see it on TV, but don’t do it in Trinidad. Let’s talk plain: we have the concept of wesser and zesser, we have the concept of wesser parties and zesser parties, we’ve been having national conversation about what’s going on in...private. Is this wrong?
"I personally believe that constitutionally the police had certain provisions that they could have provided aid to help officers in private premises.
"But under the state of emergency, we are certain the police have the power of entry into private premises, we are certain it must be reasonable in the circumstances, and that’s why we were certainly very careful, in the SoE regulations, to make sure we had a different form of regulation from the very draconian type that existed previously.”
The AG also addressed penalties for breaching curfew, saying the dollar amount and length of time of a penalty was at the discretion of the magistrate. If someone feels they have been falsely imprisoned and maliciously prosecuted, they can test this in a court of law. He said in cases where the fine is more than they can pay, they can make a plea of mitigation to the magistrate.
“When you plead guilty, it’s an automatic one-third off the sentence.
" I’m bringing it to Cabinet to see if these charges can be removed from your criminal record.”
He said the police were under instruction to limit movement, so they can pull people over during the day to ask where they are going and what they are doing on the road. He said even essential workers would have to be able to say whether they are engaged in essential work when stopped.
Al-Rawi said the decision to ban outdoor exercise was to limit congregation.
“Chaguaramas had 1,000 people, Palmiste Park, your cup overfloweth. Lady Chancellor had people everywhere, and with the reports coming to us from the TTPS, the point was to stop movement which could hurt us all.”
He said people could exercise in the precincts of their property, ie, their yard, at any time. In areas where outdoor areas attached to residences were shared, he said, people should be reasonable and not go crazy.
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