KEVON FELMINE
Senior Reporter
Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro says the Police Service will use crime data to determine where to deploy its micro units, rather than publicising their locations in advance.
Guevarro made the statement this morning as the Police Service operationalised a micro unit at the Tarouba Interchange in San Fernando, with the State of Emergency nearing its end.
He said about 30 micro units are available for deployment but stressed that their locations would be based on operational needs and analysed crime data.
“We’ll be using, again as I say, analysed data to direct where these units and where resources will be placed,” Guevarro said.
He said the units could serve as forward operating bases for several police arms, including transit police, traffic wardens, task forces, operational units, the Criminal Investigations Department and Special Branch.
Soldiers were also present at the Tarouba Interchange as part of the joint police and Defence Force approach to policing.
Guevarro said police would not reveal the locations or tactics associated with future deployments, as this could allow criminals to adapt.
“We don’t want to advertise it outside there to create a diffusion of crime.”
He said the Tarouba unit would form part of an “active directed grid patrol” linked to the National Operations Centre and other operational command centres.
Guevarro said the unit’s location, close to major southern arteries, would allow police to respond quickly and block routes when necessary.
The strategy will also include drone patrols and response.
Guevarro said people released from Preventive Detention Orders would return to “a different policing environment”.
He added that their release would not prevent police from arresting and charging them later if evidence existed.
Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander said the wider strategy represented a transformation in the way crime is managed.
