FORMER police commissioner Gary Griffith yesterday called for Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander to be fired.He made the call minutes after the minister revoked the preventive detention orders (PDOs) issued against businessman Dominic Hadeed and his wife, Genevieve.Griffith said the Government’s handling of the matter reflected “total incompetence at the highest level”, and warned that taxpayers could ultimately be left to foot a multimillion-dollar legal bill.“Somebody must pay for this—and not the taxpayers,” Griffith said in a statement issued after Alexander announced he had revoked the detention orders.Alexander said he had decided to revoke the PDOs after reviewing the circumstances surrounding the couple’s detention, including a recommendation from the State of Emergency Review Tribunal that their continued detention was “not necessary or expedient in the public interest” and fresh medical information relating to Dominic Hadeed.He also said the criminal investigation into the alleged plot to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other senior Government officials remained ongoing.Griffith, however, said the decision to first detain the Hadeeds and then release them exposed serious failings in the exercise of the emergency powers.“The same Minister of Homeland Security who decided, on his sole authority, to incarcerate persons for months without evidence and without a charge being laid—based solely on what was described as ‘credible intelligence’—has now directed that they be released,” Griffith said, adding this was “tantamount to what takes place in a police state or a dictatorial country”.He argued that if the intelligence underpinning the detention orders had been as compelling as claimed, investigators should have been able to convert it into admissible evidence capable of supporting criminal charges.“Instead, the intelligence failed so miserably that the authorities were unable to convert it into admissible evidence,” he said.Griffith also questioned Alexander’s qualifications for the ministerial post, saying he lacked the experience required to oversee the country’s national security apparatus.The former police commissioner warned that the legal fallout from the Hadeeds’ detention could prove costly.“This incompetence is now likely to cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars,” he said. “The taxpayers must not be the only persons forced to bear the consequences. The Minister of Homeland Security should be fired with immediate effect.”Griffith also rejected Alexander’s previous suggestion that he had merely acted on documents placed before him for approval.“He is not a rubber stamp,” Griffith said, pointing out “the minister alone has the authority under this law—not the Commissioner of Police, not the Chief Justice and no one else”.He argued that the Emergency Powers Regulations gave the minister sweeping authority to deprive citizens of their liberty based on intelligence assessments, and warned that such powers could be abused.“Credible intelligence is subjective. It ultimately depends upon the personal opinion and judgment of the minister,” he said.According to Griffith, Alexander’s handling of the matter had embarrassed both the Government and the country, and could continue to do so before the courts and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.