Cops warn public about alcohol risks for Carnival

“Be aware of your sur­round­ings. Don’t overindulge in al­co­hol. Don’t leave your drinks un­at­tend­ed.”

These are the stern re­minders com­ing from the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) as the coun­try con­tin­ues to cel­e­brate Car­ni­val Mon­day, with ac­tiv­i­ties ex­pect­ed to ramp up overnight and in­to Car­ni­val Tues­day.

In an of­fi­cial state­ment, the TTPS urged par­ents, guardians and teenagers to re­main alert and ex­er­cise sound judge­ment while at­tend­ing Car­ni­val events.

“There are risks as­so­ci­at­ed with ir­re­spon­si­ble al­co­hol con­sump­tion and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of drinks be­ing laced with il­lic­it sub­stances,” the Po­lice Ser­vice warns.

It urges mem­bers of the pub­lic to be mind­ful that “cock­tails or bev­er­ages may be tam­pered with and could con­tain drugs ca­pa­ble of caus­ing hal­lu­ci­na­tions, con­fu­sion, un­con­scious­ness or oth­er se­ri­ous med­ical com­pli­ca­tions.”

It al­so en­cour­aged par­ents and guardians to en­gage their chil­dren in open dis­cus­sions about re­spon­si­ble be­hav­iour and per­son­al safe­ty dur­ing the Car­ni­val pe­ri­od.

Us­ing its safe­ty cam­paign mes­sag­ing for this year’s Car­ni­val, ‘Fes­tive SHIELD 2026 – Se­cure the Vibes’, the TTPS called on mem­bers of the pub­lic to protest them­selves and shared tips on how to do so dur­ing the fes­tiv­i­ties.

● Avoid mix­ing al­co­holic bev­er­ages, as this in­creas­es im­pair­ment and re­duces sit­u­a­tion­al aware­ness.

● Nev­er leave your drink un­at­tend­ed.

● Do not ac­cept drinks from ac­quain­tances. Be se­lec­tive and on­ly ac­cept bev­er­ages from trust­ed per­sons, prefer­ably opened or pre­pared in your pres­ence.

● Trav­el in groups, par­tic­u­lar­ly fe­males at­tend­ing events.

● Wear com­fort­able footwear when com­mut­ing, in case you need to move quick­ly from an un­safe en­vi­ron­ment.

● In­form a rel­a­tive or trust­ed in­di­vid­ual of your des­ti­na­tion and ex­pect­ed time of re­turn be­fore leav­ing home.

“Un­der the lead­er­ship of Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro and Car­ni­val Gold Com­man­der DCP Suzette Mar­tin, of­fi­cers re­main strate­gi­cal­ly de­ployed across all di­vi­sions to en­sure a safe and en­joy­able ex­pe­ri­ence for res­i­dents and vis­i­tors alike,” the TTPS as­sured.

It added: “While you cel­e­brate, we safe­guard.”