By Sue-Ann Wayow

MORE than 800 special reserved officers (SRPs) will now join the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) as regular police officers in one of the government’s major efforts to fight crime.

Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander made the announcement during a post-Cabinet media briefing held at the Diplomatic Centre on Thursday.

This is the first time the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s is being used by this administration led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for a post-Cabinet meeting.

Alexander said there was currently a shortfall of over 1,152 vacancies in the TTPS and overburdened by lack of resources including manpower, Cabinet has approved a waiver of mandatory academic and required entry into the TTPS.

“The government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is looking at all options available to it for the protection of our citizens. At this time as we speak, a number of persons are being interviewed with respect to schools and the protection of our children.”

In response to media questions about waiving certain academic qualifications, Alexander stated that the regulation would follow.

He also said the officers were not new to the work of policing, some who have been working for years as an SRP.

SRPs make a choice to serve in that area and their academic qualifications would have varied, some may have had tertiary level education.

The TTPS website states, “This department was established to augment the strength of the Service, when persons from the community, especially prominent persons, were asked or appointed as Special Police to assist the police service in cases of emergency and on special occasions. Today the Special Reserve Police Officers are governed by the Special Reserve Police Act 15:03.”

SRPs perform all basic duties of a regular police officer.

Speaking further on the topic of safety and security, Minister of Legal Affairs Saddam Hosein said the decision made was a landmark one.

He said, “This in particular will address the manpower shortage we have in the TTPS also and I say that because that is evident, especially from the overtime bill that the TTPS has to incur on a fiscal and yearly basis.”

The absorption of SRPs into the TTPS was not new having been done in the past in 2008 with 1,000 being absorbed in the TTPS, Hosein said.

“This will also give an indication that we are about to treat people fairly in terms of the jobs they perform…that these officers perform almost the same or identical jobs as the regular officers but they are paid differently. That is something that we want to correct as an administration.”

The motivation of the officers will also be increased as the measure was called for by the SRPs for many years, Hosein said.

Alexander said other crime-fighting initiatives would be about bringing bills to parliament and bringing technology to law enforcement.

He also said while murder rates and detection rates would be measured, “police preventing crime, cannot be measured.”

Some processes take longer than expected, especially procurement processes.

“Unless, it is by Toys R Us and just purchase these things and walk out… I want to get what is good and what is world standards for my officers in order to fight crime effectively, ” he said.

Alexander said government was in the process of digitising the Firearms Section of the TTPS.

He said annually, there was a general recruitment of about 2,500 police officers but also annually, there would be officers resigning about 200 so the TTPS was always at a disadvantage in manpower.

“What we are trying to do is to bridge that gap with persons leaving and persons coming in to provide presence and visibility on the nation’s streets.”

He also said Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro spoke with him on Thursday to discuss having more police officers out of the office and into the streets.

Hosein pointed that that within two months and two weeks since the United National Congress (UNC) took office, a Commissioner of Police was appointed, crime fighting laws are already drafted and awaiting public consultation will begin soon, 280 auxiliary fire officers absorbed into the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service and now the 800 SRPs and “more will come.”

“We are faced with 10 years of neglect from the past administration which we are trying to correct first but also roll out some of our plans,” he said.