Anna-Lisa Paul
Senior Reporter
With the State of Emergency (SoE) ending yesterday, Commissioner of Police (CoP) Allister Guevarro said the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) is ready to respond whenever necessary to keep the country safe.
“We are ready to turn up on each occasion and do what needs to be done to keep Trinidad and Tobago safe.”
Guevarro was speaking to reporters at the Eddie Hart Savannah in Tacarigua as the last of three micro police units were operationalised yesterday.
Reaffirming the TTPS’s commitment to the task ahead, he said the police had all the resources necessary to do what was required of them.
Asked how the TTPS intended to address “closed areas” as designated under the Special Operations Bill, Guevarro declined to answer, saying it was yet to be debated in Parliament.
However, he assured that the national security apparatus, including the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF), was ready to do whatever was needed, “to take back T&T from the criminals.”
Guevarro attributed several recent drug seizures to intelligence-led policing.
Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander, who was also present at the operational opening of the police post, side-stepped questions relating to the proposed crime-fighting strategies, insisting, “The Bill is about saving lives.”
“Every life we save is important to us, so this bill will be about saving lives and saving communities.”
He promised, “Strategies will come tomorrow.”
Responding to concerns raised by Opposition members about some of the areas outlined under the Bill, Alexander said, “If you are not involved in criminal elements or involved in any kind of criminality, there are certain initiatives that won’t affect you at all.”
He said the majority of people had been moving around freely during the SoE, which had been meant to target only the criminal elements.
When asked how they intended to determine what would constitute a closed area, he warned, “The behaviour of persons in your community will determine whether or not your area becomes a special operation area.”
He added, “So if you are behaving good, then by all means, but if you are terrorising the community and all of that, who knows what will happen next.”
