UK cops are in TT, more to come

“The rest will come before the end of the month,” Joseph said.

He added that the officers had various specialities, which he did not want to expose. Reporters queried the original announcement of Prime Minister Patrick Manning in Parliament that the British police were from Scotland Yard, which is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, who patrol Greater London.

Joseph responded by saying that in his view, the term “Scotland Yard” is a generic description for all British police officers. He added: “I was taken aback when a newspaper said the Prime Minister was misleading the population.”

In his address earlier, Joseph praised the work of the Special Reserve Police (SRPs) recruited under the SRP1000 plan. “Cabinet has agreed to the extension by two years of the contracts of 498 SRPs recruited under the SRP1000 project on a three year contract in the first instance”. He added that Cabinet has also agreed to an in-service training programme over the two year period of renewed contracts to enable the SRPs to be upgraded to regular police officers. Cabinet similarly wants to see the 191 SRPs who were recruiteed outside the SRP1000 project to also be absorbed by the regular Police Service.

Some $94 million is being spent to fund both groups of SRPs over the five year period, including $31 million spent in the first two years of the recruitment (before agreement with the Chief Pesonnel Officer (CPO)) and now $21 million being spent each year after agreement wth the CPO.