Top cop assures

ASSISTANT Commissioner of Police Winston Cooper has assured the media there will be sufficient vehicles for the passing out of trainee police officers.

He gave this assurance while speaking at the Police Training College’s Community Policing Projects Oral Presentation at the El Dorado Youth Development and Apprenticeship Centre in Tunapuna.

“The trainees will have vehicles available for them when they pass out,” Cooper told Newsday.

The 168 trainees will pass out in September. Cooper said more than 160 vehicles are ready to be handed over by the Minister of National Security.

Speaking on the issue of officers’ handling of domestic violence, Cooper said officers have been trained to make the appropriate response. “If an officer tells a victim who is abused, to go home, report them,” Cooper said.

He said the response that police officers gave to abused victims when reporting cases of domestic violence, was very archaic. Meanwhile, Cooper explained the community policing and crime-fighting at local stations, were stretching the manpower of the police force.

“Attention will be paid to the community policing,” he explained. Meanwhile, police trainees gave oral presentations on strategies against criminal activity in different communities. The trainees were judged by several executive members of the Police Service for marks.

Dr Harold Mahabir, director of Assessment and Evaluations, started a new programme, called Field Training Officers (FTO) that is focused on assisting the trainees in operations of police work.