Sniffer dogs for ports

Asked what heightened security measures were being considered after last Friday’s bomb threat at the Scarborough port, Dillon said a number were being looked, at including the police canine unit.

Even before the threat, which is still being investigated, he said that last month officials of the Ministry met with the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to deal with security in Tobago.

“Among measures which we came up with and which is being pursued by the DCP Crime right now is to include the use of canines at both ports,” Dillon said.

The DCP Crime has also assigned additional police manpower to Tobago to treat with security not only at the port, but throughout the island.

Asked how soon the dogs will be put in place, Dillon said the police, in collaboration with the THA, were locating appropriate kennels. “Once that is done the dogs will be assigned to Tobago,” he said.

However, he said dogs will be used earlier on the Port of Port of Spain, as they are in Trinidad. The animals will check passengers and vehicles before they board the vessel for Tobago.

While kennels are to be found for existing police stations, Dillon said, new stations being built in Tobago will have areas allocated for them.

On another question, in relation to a plea by the President of the Police Social and Welfare Association for police to be given non-lethal equipment, Dillon said he supports this.

However, the operations of the police come under the Commissioner of Police (CoP), who has told him the police were revising their “Use of Force” policy to include non-lethal weapons.