Home Affairs Ministry puts cops on notice for tint compliance

Home Affairs Minister Oneidge Walrond on Wednesday, via her Facebook page, put all Police ranks on notice to comply with the regulations for tint on vehicles or face disciplinary actions.

According to Minister Walrond, any rank who has tint on their private motor vehicle that does not comply with the regulations and who does not possess a valid tint permit must remove the tint immediately.
Ranks were further advised that no tint is to be reinstalled unless an approved tint permit has been formally applied for and granted.
“Let it be clearly understood that the law applies to everyone equally. Those empowered to enforce the law must be the first to uphold it. Failure to comply will result in disciplinary action, without exception,” her post declared.
The move, though not regarded as being related to the event, comes after a social media video post just a few days ago showed a heavily tinted Police rank’s vehicle involved in an accident with a horse along a public road.
There have been many reports of the abuse of tint laws among Police officials over the years, with some sections of the media also referring to the use of tint as a “status symbol” among persons with “connections”.
Just last month, reports stated that the Government was mulling the introduction of a standardised tint level for normal road users. However, there will be a separate level for the security forces and diplomats.
“We may just have two levels,” Vice President Jagdeo explained last month. “One for security forces and maybe diplomats, and then another tint level for the general public. Everybody gets treated the same. There’ll be no exemptions…”
Jagdeo also argued that a clear, across-the-board framework would reduce opportunities for favouritism, curb the bottleneck of applications, and ensure fairness.
He added that the proposed reforms are part of wider efforts to improve efficiency in Government, reduce red tape, and allow Ministers to spend more time on issues that matter to citizens.
“It’s better to do across-the-board systems… rather than be bogged down with 50 or 500 applications for tint exemptions every week going into the Ministry,” he had said then.