British Cops Get Top Local Posts

The officers — former Scotland Yard Commander Ian Delbarre and retired detective Chief Inspector Dave King — specialise in dealing with domestic violence particularly child abuse and organised crime specifically drug-trafficking, respectively.

Both men are now ACPs in the Special Reserve Police (SRP) attached to the Special Anti-crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT). Newsday exclusively reported on the appointments in yesterday’s edition.

Sgt Noel Chase of the Police Second Division Social Welfare Association yesterday said the association would have to discuss these appointments internally before making a public pronouncement.

A statement from the Ministry of National Security yesterday said Commissioner of Police (CoP) Trevor Paul, appointed 27 British police officers including the two ACPs, as SRP officers. The contingent also includes three female officers, one of whom was appointed SRP sergeant and the others SRP corporals.

Government originally said 39 British officers were being contracted. Yesterday’s statement by the ministry said the appointments were made to let UK officers function within the law enforcement community of Trinidad and Tobago.

“These (appointments) were made solely for administrative purposes and do not affect the organisational structure of the local police force,” the release added.

In SAUTT, Delbarre will be deputy Director of Strategic Coordination and Operations, while King will serve as deputy Director of Investigations. In all, the 27 British officers comprise two ACPs, one senior superintendent, three superintendents, one inspector, five sergeants and 15 corporals.

The statement added: “Remuneration for the officers was approved by Cabinet and does not include allowances or expenditure in support of spouses or dependents.”

King was up to last year, head of the counter-narcotics arm of Britain’s National Crime Squad, which the BBC website said makes high quality investigations into the very top level of criminality.

The squad tackled organised crime in areas such as “major international drug trafficking, money-laundering, arms smuggling, counterfeit currency, kidnapping and extortion, people smuggling, and high tech crime.”

Commander Ian Debarre specialises in domestic violence. A Times newspaper reported Delbarre’s move to Trinidad and Tobago in a June 14 story entitled, “Trinidad signs British police to tackle soaring crime rate.”

The story stated: “Delbarre has left the Metropolitan Police (the Met) after 35 years to head a team of British officers drawn from the Met, West Midlands, Wiltshire, Leicestershire and Dorset to train local (TT) officers in fields like intelligence tactics and crime scene management.”

The Times said Delbarre investigated the infamous murder of eight-year-old Ivory Coast-born abuse victim Victoria Climbie in Tottenham, North London in 2000, whose two killers unprecedentedly later testified at a formal inquiry into the failure of the social services to protect the child.

The Association of London Government website carried a story “Reducing violent crime” which reported that Delbarre is an expert on “rape, domestic violence, hate crime, dangerous offences and missing persons.”

In 2005 he headed the Met’s Project Umbra which sought to hold to account perpetrators of acts of domestic violence including forced marriages and “honour-based violence.”