Kazim wants 894 local cops

Each of Trinidad’s corporations is to get 100 officers, to improve citizen safety and curb crime across the country.

“This is evidence of true Local Government Reform,” Hosein said.

“We have a sense of urgency to increase our Municipal Police Service as it will fill the gaps in policing and concentrate on community safety and security.” Hwelcomed the Public Service Commission’s nod for this recruitment.

Hosein said the Office of Law Enforcement Policy (OLEP) will support this initiative and will train the recruits on core municipal policing functions.

OLEP intends to use the former Marabella South Secondary School as a training space to provide classroom instruction, drills and defensive training, for eight batches of 30 recruits at a time.

Firearms training will take place at a designated shooting range, by retired police officers and experienced security officials over a four month period.

“The intention is to restructure the Municipal Police Service to become a single entity with regional heads so that there is a greater level of interconnectedness and uniformity in the way each municipality is policed, and to elevate and modernize the standards of protective service at the local government level.” Hosein recently met Minister of National Security, Edmund Dillon, and OLEP head, Keith Renaud, to discuss this exercise in