1,588 arrested, 355 charged under SoE

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) says 1,588 peo­ple have been ar­rest­ed and 355 charged as op­er­a­tions con­tin­ue un­der the 2026 State of Emer­gency.

In a me­dia re­lease mark­ing Day 45 of the emer­gency mea­sures, the TTPS said of­fi­cers con­duct­ed 3,694 op­er­a­tions, con­tribut­ing to the rise in ar­rests and charges.

The TTPS al­so re­port­ed that 258 de­ten­tion or­ders have been ap­proved, with 170 ex­e­cut­ed, sur­pass­ing the to­tals record­ed at the end of the pre­vi­ous State of Emer­gency, which stood at 205 ap­proved and 153 ex­e­cut­ed.

Po­lice said they re­cov­ered 90 firearms and seized 2,196 rounds of am­mu­ni­tion, along with 3,146 kilo­grammes of co­caine and 337.040 kilo­grammes of mar­i­jua­na.

The TTPS at­trib­uted the re­sults to in­tel­li­gence-led polic­ing, co­or­di­nat­ed na­tion­al op­er­a­tions, and a sus­tained fo­cus on pri­or­i­ty of­fend­ers and or­gan­ised crim­i­nal net­works.

Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, Op­er­a­tions, Suzette Mar­tin, said the fig­ures re­flect a strate­gic ap­proach tar­get­ing in­di­vid­u­als and groups who pose the great­est threat to pub­lic safe­ty.

“These out­comes are not in­ci­den­tal. They are the re­sult of de­lib­er­ate, in­tel­li­gence-led polic­ing, co­or­di­nat­ed na­tion­al op­er­a­tions, and a sus­tained fo­cus on pri­or­i­ty of­fend­ers and or­gan­ised crim­i­nal net­works,” Mar­tin said.

She added, “For the pub­lic, the mes­sage is clear: the TTPS is strate­gi­cal­ly tar­get­ing in­di­vid­u­als and groups who pose the great­est threat to the safe­ty and sta­bil­i­ty of our com­mu­ni­ties, and we are do­ing so with pre­ci­sion and pur­pose.”

The TTPS said it is now en­ter­ing a crit­i­cal phase of the State of Emer­gency, where con­sis­ten­cy, ef­fec­tive ex­e­cu­tion, and ac­count­abil­i­ty will de­ter­mine the over­all im­pact of its ef­forts.

“Let me be clear—op­er­a­tions will con­tin­ue with in­ten­si­ty, dis­ci­pline, and ze­ro tol­er­ance for crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ty,” Mar­tin said.

She added, “We will not re­lent. We will not ease the pres­sure. We will con­tin­ue to de­liv­er re­sults in the in­ter­est of na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty.”