Elizabeth Gonzales
Senior Reporter
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service paid TSTT more than $93 million in telephone bills over four financial years, including $32.2 million in a single year, while three cases involving missing cellphones remain under investigation.
The TTPS has not disclosed how many phones are involved in the three cases, their value or whether any devices or money have been recovered.
The $93 million figure, disclosed in a November 4 Freedom of Information response, covers all telephone services, including fixed lines, mobile, airtime and data. TTPS did not separate those charges, leaving the amount spent on mobile phone bills unclear.
For two financial periods, 21 handsets were purchased for use by the TTPS for $127,000. These comprised 19 Samsung phones and two Apple iPhones.
The figures were disclosed in a November 4 Freedom of Information response to attorney Keron Ramkhalwhan, acting for Vishal Persad.
The $93 million excludes another financial year, 2024–2025, because that year’s amount is incorrectly printed in the response.
The four entries add up to $93,147,216.56. They cover the periods 2021–2022, 2022–2023, 2023–2024 and 2025–2026. The 2024–2025 entry is 18,569,05.84
TTPS lists no outstanding balance for any of the five financial years.
The annual payments fall from $32.22 million in 2021–2022 to $13.41 million in 2025–2026. The FOIA response does not explain what led to the change.
On October 9, Guardian Media reported that the TTPS paid $793.89 million in overtime between January 2024 and August 2026, according to figures obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
The first eight months of 2026 already exceeded the entire overtime bill for 2025 by $6.35 million.
Payments to TSTT
Year Amount Paid
2021–2022 $32,219,994.79
2022–2023 $28,392,638.16
2023–2024 $19,128,733.30
2024–2025 Figure misprinted
2025–2026 $13,405,850.31
Subtotal of four readable years $93,147,216.56
The FOIA sought records from January 1, 2021 to September 27, 2026. It also asked which police stations or other premises had telephone services cut off for non-payment, and when those services were restored.
TTPS directed the applicant to its payments table. That table contains no station names, disconnection dates or restoration dates.
On the missing phones, the police service said: “We are instructed that there are three (3) cases where telephones purchased are unaccounted for, lost or not returned. These matters are under investigation.”
It gives no details of the investigations.
TTPS said it purchased 516 phones during the requested period. It did not give a yearly breakdown or quantities for each model.
The application also covered fixed-line phones.
Procurement of cellphones
For handsets, TTPS purchased a quantity valued at $127,339.34 for the period 2021 to 2026.
For the 2021–2023 period, 11 Samsung handset entries were listed, with a combined value of $62,100.34. The most expensive was the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus, valued at $10,950.19, followed by the Samsung Galaxy Note at $9,443.81 and the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus at $8,806.50.
Other handsets listed during that period included the Samsung Galaxy S10, valued at $7,481.25; Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, $6,592.50; Samsung Galaxy A80, $6,592.50; Samsung Galaxy S9, $5,625; Samsung Galaxy A51, $2,099.15; Samsung Galaxy A10s, $1,771.88; Samsung Galaxy A31, $1,666.13; and Samsung Galaxy A10, $1,071.43.
For the 2023–2026 period, Samsung and Apple handsets had a combined value of $65,239. The Apple entries accounted for $24,598, comprising an iPhone Pro valued at $12,399 and an iPhone 14 Pro Max valued at $12,199.
The Samsung handsets listed for 2023–2026 totalled $40,641. These included the Samsung Flip Z, valued at $11,849; Samsung S23, $7,349; Samsung A23 5G, $5,999; Samsung S22, $3,599; Samsung A54, $3,049; Samsung A33, $2,299; Samsung A22, $2,149; and Samsung A23, $2,049.
Overall, Samsung handsets purchased were valued at $102,741.34 across the two periods, while Apple handsets accounted for $24,598, bringing the combined listed value to $127,339.34.
Regarding procurement, the TTPS said awards were guided by the relevant procurement legislation, but did not identify the actual award method or other details.
The TTPS explained that phones are issued by the Commissioner for official use. Recipients include heads of divisions and branches, civilian managers, senior officers and others whom the Commissioner considers to require them for their duties.
“The maximum monthly limit is five hundred dollars ($500.00), unless otherwise approved,” the response stated.
Phones must be returned to the Finance Branch when an officer retires, transfers or resigns.
The response does not give the number of active mobile lines or detail how often spending above $500 was approved.
Spending concerns
Questions about police telephone costs have been raised in Parliament for more than a decade.
On September 25, 2014, then opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley questioned the controls on police telephone spending during a Standing Finance Committee sitting.
“What controls are in place? Are there limits to personal use?” he asked.
Gary Griffith, then national security minister, said the telephone budget also covered information technology, internet, broadband, mobile phones and data networks. He described services reaching more than 102 locations at 77 police stations.
That was an explanation of the budget at the time.
Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee returned to the issue during its examination of TTPS spending for 2018–2019.
Its report, presented in March 2020, recorded questions about official phone use, bills above the $500 limit without the commissioner’s approval, international calls and lost cellular phones.
The report also included Griffith’s evidence as commissioner at a March 28, 2019 hearing. He said delays in releasing funds affected payment of police bills.
“We have situations where TSTT they will disconnect us,” Griffith told the committee then.
Then head of Finance Maria Harte said money received during that financial year had been used to pay previous years’ bills.
On January 27, 2020, then finance minister Colm Imbert told Parliament that TTPS had received $11.6 million to clear telephone bills.
On January 23, 2023, he reported another $4.6 million in expenditure to “clear off long outstanding bills for the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service”.
Those statements concern earlier payments.
Guardian Media asked Deputy Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin to clarify the mobile portion of the telephone bill, provide the correct 2024–2025 figure, explain handset procurement costs and give details of the three missing-phone investigations.
Benjamin said he was carefully reviewing the questions and would provide a full response soon.
