How long will these vehicles last?

THE EDITOR: The good and long-waited news is that the Police Service is once again the recipient of a fleet of new vehicles, numbering 100-plus cars and 25 motorcycles which by all accounts should eliminate the customary answer to emergency calls that “we are sorry but we have no vehicle available at the present time.” But then these may not be in reality 100 more vehicles being added to the existing fleet, since out of the previous 100 cherokee jeeps and the 30 or more traffic vehicles that were bought not so long ago, it is not unreasonable to assume that at least 100 of them have been relegated to the scrap heap in view of the absence of any form of preventative maintenance programme for government owed vehicles, so 100 new ones do not necessarily mean 100 more.

Another thing that deserves some consideration is the fact that if a cherokee jeep, which is a fairly sturdy vehicle, designed to operate under difficult conditions and rugged terrain, failed to stand up to the rigours of the local police service, it is most unlikely that the little Ford and Mitsubishi passenger cars that were designed to operate on smooth roadways for family use will survive for any length of time in the police service. But then again in an oil and gas rich country such as ours, where many roads are virtually impassable, bridges have collapsed and large areas of the population are still without a supply of pipe borne water, there should be no problem in spending a few million dollars every year or two, in order to keep replacing vehicles and other equipment that have been discarded simply because of a lack of maintenance.

I would safely venture to say that since this country became independent some 42 years ago, the number of government-owned vehicles including those of the PTSC, Police Service, Department of Works, WASA, the Health Service, Fire Services and Prisons, could fill the Queen’s Park Savannah and overflow into the surrounding streets of Port-of-Spain. Perhaps the Minister of National Security would care to inform the public as to the total number of vehicles of each type presently in the possession of the Police Service so that in September of 2005 the public would be able to determine how many more of them have been put to rest. Just as a matter of interest of course, since money is of no object except of course to the poor and destitute in the society who have none.

MARTIN KAVANAGH
La Romaine