Internal Affairs probes Ingram

Public Safety Commissioner Charles Ingram’s alleged run-in with the law came as a surprise and disappointment to Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio who told reporters yesterday that he had yet to meet with the troubled Cabinet official.

“I haven’t spoken to Mr. Ingram. I just saw it in the paper and I was so preoccupied with the meeting,” he said in an interview after emerging from a two-hour meeting with members of the Legislature.

“I was surprised, I haven’t heard anything yet,” Tenorio added when asked whether he would fire Ingram. “I am sure that he will be meeting with me, too.”

The governor was reacting on a report which alleged that the top police official, riding on a DPS car, had a run in with his men along Beach Road in Chalan Laulau at dawn Sunday.

According to a police report, DPS received a call at about 1:00 A.M. last Sunday informing police that a car fitting the description of Ingram’s vehicle almost struck down a pedestrian in the area.

An officer responding to the report saw the commissioner’s car parked somewhere in Chalan Piao, but when he walked up to the vehicle, he reportedly saw Ingram already making a call through his cellular phone.

There was nothing in the official report that mentioned a car chase between police officers and Ingram or whether the commissioner was drunk, but the matter is still under investigation by the DPS Internal Affairs.

It was also alleged that Ingram was seen in bars earlier and that police officers made no arrest.

But Tenorio, in an apparent attempt to downplay the incident, reminded government officials to always comply with the laws, noting that he would get disappointed no matter who is involved in such a case.

“Whenever there is an incident, especially in your staff, you feel a little surprise with disappointment. Like I always say, we are public officials and our duties and responsibilities are to assist our community,” he explained.

“Whether it’s Ingram or whoever the secretary of that department, I keep telling them that they must comply with whatever rules and regulations that the department is supposed to have,” added Tenorio.

“And when they are not doing it, naturally I get disappointed because I expect them to do what they are supposed to do and if I have to do it for them, of course we will be very disappointed,” the governor said.