PRIME Minister Stuart Young has announced more of the PNM’s new plans to tackle crime, including the expansion of police undercover operations, the implementation of a new “elite” police squad, higher penalties for law-enforcement infringements and a simpler method by which a police commissioner will be selected.
He said covert and undercover operations needed to be expanded but lack of legislative protection for undercover officers hindered its success.
“There is no law in Trinidad and Tobago that allows undercover and covert officers to do their work without fear of prosecution. That coming too, to allow them to do their job...
“We already have the draft guidelines as to how we're gonna get that done.”
Young was speaking at the PNM public meeting at Signature Hall, Chaguanas on April 10.
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He said such undercover and covert operations would be carried out by an elite squad that would consistently be subject to polygraph testing to ensure integrity.
“Any time they get intelligence and they're told a crime is gonna happen here, a drug deal gonna happen there, a gang gonna operate there, not one of them in that squad, that elite unit, is gonna pick up their phone and warn anybody. They're going to get (apprehend) the criminals.”
He said the squad would be put under strategic leadership in the police with assistance from the Defence Force and receive “the best tactical training in the world,” putting fear back into criminals.
In addition to the elite squad, Young also announced plans for a rapid-response joint task force. He said the task force would work alongside the existing National Operations Centre launched in 2020.
“We have to ramp that up because times have changed. It can't be business as usual.”
He said there would be a national joint operations command that integrated protective and intelligence services including immigration and customs. The initiatives will be geared towards co-ordinated responses to security threats like organised crime, human trafficking, illegal firearms and narcotics smuggling.
Although he could not give details, Young said the technology to support such teams was already being developed. He said additional technology would also be used to ensure the maintenance of law-enforcement vehicles.
Enhanced law-enforcement accountability was also on the cards. Young proposed the implementation of new laws to reduce police corruption.
“Once you're doing what is right, you're fine. But we want higher penalties for law-enforcement infringements. Because too often we're hearing about extortion.”
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At the same time, Young also proposed enhanced legal protection for law-enforcement officers, including private security.
“In other words, you attack any one of those officers including private security guards, you're going to have the full force of the law come down on you.”
He also addressed what he said was a conversation happening within the UNC about “giving out guns.”
“First of all, no government can give out guns. So don't let anybody thief your head about giving out guns.”
But he did recognise the need to address the legal firearm system.
“We recognise that that is an area that law-abiding citizens are concerned about. I give the undertaking here tonight, in a responsible manner, that the next PNM government will look at that.
“Not giving out guns to everybody, but looking at how the system can be properly addressed.”
Young also proposed the simplification of the process of selecting “the best fit” for the role of police commissioner.
“Not necessarily rising through the ranks. If you are the best person for the job, you get the job. We need the thinking, we need the strategy.”
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He also addressed the issue of gender-based domestic violence saying the current gender-based violence unit would equipped with more resources and training.
“You have to understand that a person who has suffered abuse has to go to someone that is trained. Someone who when you come to them doesn't say, ‘Well go and sit down there, I go take the report just now...’
“These are the things that the next PNM government will do. It will show that we mean that we care.”
Young later added that electronic monitoring would be introduced to the fight against domestic violence.
"Because we recognise some people commit heinous acts of domestic violence etc, they should have an ankle bracelet on. And we as the law authorities should know, if they're going anywhere in the zone... we want to make sure that if they're doing anything they're not supposed to be doing, those tactical units can swoop in and deal with them."
He also promised the expansion of community policing and the development of targeted youth intervention and gang prevention programmes under the Youth and National Development Ministry.
