NO OLD COPS

TRINIDAD and Tobago needs young professional police officers to patrol the streets, highways, alleys, fields, hills, rivers and coastal areas, and therefore the physical output required to achieve these objectives cannot be met by retirees, acting Insp Christopher Holder said on Friday. This is one of several recommendations Holder has proposed to Minister of National Security Howard Chin Lee and acting Commissioner of Police Everald Snaggs, who on Friday received a copy of the proposals. Chin Lee had told the media on July 23 that 1,000 police officers will be deployed on the streets in the new war on crime.  It was later revealed that the 1,000 officers were going to be retired ones. However, Holder, president of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association, is proposing a short term (one year) injection of 1000 Special Reserve Police (SRP) officers instead of retired officers.

He outlined some advantages of this recommendation, saying that employment rate would be reduced by employing young unemployed citizens; that many young citizens would be seen as leaders in the fight against crime, and that other young citizens may be motivated to come forward and assist the police in their fight against crime. Holder said some retirees should be contracted for a short period to conduct classroom training for the proposed 1000 SRPs. Additionally, he said, all existing officers who have “excess vacation leave” can be utilised by “buying out their vacation leave”. Holder said further the association’s proposal of 1000 SRPs should be based on the objective of supplementation in order to remedy deficiencies such as visibility of police officers in uniform and the feeling of safety, security and stability in the various communities. He said the initial one-year contract of employment should be followed by the objective of augmentation in the long term in which those SRPs who meet the necessary requirements would be recruited as Regular Police Officers (RPOs). Holder said the SRPs who have not met the requirements/criteria for the RPO may be contracted to work as SRPs for additional periods given the recommendations arising out of their strategic plan for the next five years, 2003-2008. “Given the two objectives outlined the initial recruitment of SRPs must be based on youthfulness, physical fitness or the opportunity to be recruited in the long term as RPO. Retirees are not qualified to meet these criteria in most situations,” Holder said.

Contacted on Friday, Snaggs told Sunday Newsday that the association’s recommendations are meaningful and will assist the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and the Government in embarking on “effective strategies” geared towards servicing communities in a better way from a policing point of view. However, Snaggs said these recommendations impact on policy initiatives from the Ministry of National Security and “these issues are still being worked out as far as I know before final decisions are made.” The official date for the 1000 additional officers to hit the streets is yet to be known, but Chin Lee said on Wednesday that  advertising has already started, and that there will be a strict recruiting process.