Police unit to patrol bus route

A specialist police unit will soon patrol the Priority Bus Route to tackle a rising number of serious crimes, announced Minister of National Security Martin Joseph. Cabinet yesterday agreed to establish a Transit Police Unit, he told a post-Cabinet media conference at Whitehall. The unit will be based in City Gate and will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some 75 constables will be deployed to three shifts round-the-clock, under an inspector. The officers will monitor City Gate, the Priority Bus Route (from Port-of-Spain to Arima), and the yellow-band maxi-taxi stand at South Quay.

Joseph said the move follows increased crime on the bus route, which was a worry of maxi-taxi operators with whom he had recently met. “They are concerned with the increase in violence against passengers especially in the East-West corridor.” He said the unit would initially be composed of retired officers of the Police Service, Regiment, Coast Guard, Prison Service, and Fire Service. “Based on consultation with the Commissioner of Police, it is proposed that the unit be staffed as follows — one inspector, two sergeants, 15 corporals, 75 constables, three clerical assistants, and one typist.” The new unit will be set up at an initial cost of $6.4 million, he said. “We brought to the attention of Cabinet the growing incidence of violence and criminal activity in the area which this unit will be policing.”

Joseph showed how serious offences like robbery, wounding, sexual offences, kidnappings, larceny, and drug offences had grown over the years  in this transit area. “In 1999, serious criminal activity amounted to 29, in 2000 it was 36, in 2001 it was 65, in 2002 it was 97, in 2003 it was 76, in 2004 it was 86, and (in 2005) to date it was 18.” He said this totalled 407 crimes from 1999 to 2005. “We have taken a decision to implement this specialised unit, a Transit Police Unit, whose major focus will be on dealing with the question of policing in the public transportation sector.” In the question session, he said that by mid-June he hoped to identify former officers to staff the unit which Cabinet had initially approved for one year.