Carisa Lee

Re­porter

Carisa.Lee@cnc3.co.tt

Of­fi­cers at­tached to the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice Traf­fic and High­way Pa­trol Branch say they may be forced to park their mo­tor­cy­cles if their calls for new uni­forms con­tin­ue to be ig­nored.

Of­fi­cers from more than one di­vi­sion, speak­ing on con­di­tion of anonymi­ty, told Guardian Me­dia that they have been re­quest­ing re­place­ment work gear since be­fore the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. They say if they are in­volved in an ac­ci­dent while wear­ing their cur­rent gear, they would have lit­tle to no pro­tec­tion, as the padding in their hel­mets, jack­ets and pants has de­te­ri­o­rat­ed.

An of­fi­cer at­tached to the East­ern Di­vi­sion said his uni­form is so washed out that he is bare­ly iden­ti­fi­able as a po­lice of­fi­cer when he is not on or near his mo­tor­cy­cle.

“I have to use rub­ber bands to keep the Vel­cro at­tached to my jack­et,” he said.

Con­tact­ed on the is­sue, Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice So­cial and Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion (TTPSS­WA) pres­i­dent, ASP Ish­mael Pitt, said he has re­ceived no re­ports on the is­sue since tak­ing up the po­si­tion, but said he will re­quest a meet­ing with the rel­e­vant sec­tion heads to dis­cuss the con­cerns and seek a so­lu­tion.

“I will en­sure through ad­vo­ca­cy that the is­sues are ad­dressed,” he stat­ed.

Guardian Me­dia un­der­stands that this af­fects of­fi­cers in the Traf­fic Branch from all ten polic­ing di­vi­sions.

Al­so con­tact­ed, As­sis­tant Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice for Spe­cialised Sup­port, Bri­an Sood­een, said ef­forts are un­der­way to amend the Po­lice Ser­vice Reg­u­la­tions to for­mal­ly de­fine the ap­proved uni­form for po­lice mo­tor­cy­clists.

Sood­een said this process re­quires par­lia­men­tary in­ter­ven­tion and once com­plet­ed, will en­sure that safe­ty ap­par­el is of­fi­cial­ly recog­nised as part of the pre­scribed uni­form.

“In the in­ter­im, of­fi­cers who feel un­safe per­form­ing mo­tor­cy­cle du­ties are en­cour­aged to raise their con­cerns with their se­nior of­fi­cers, and al­ter­na­tive du­ties may be as­signed while the mat­ter is be­ing re­solved,” Sood­een said.

He said it is es­sen­tial that po­lice of­fi­cers are prop­er­ly equipped with the nec­es­sary tools of their trade, in­clud­ing ap­pro­pri­ate safe­ty ap­par­el.

He added that a uni­form forms an in­te­gral part of an of­fi­cer’s op­er­a­tional kit and is re­gard­ed as of­fi­cial equip­ment is­sued by the or­gan­i­sa­tion.

“Most of the se­niors care about sta­tis­tics; oth­er than the well-be­ing, some­times, of the of­fi­cers that ac­tu­al­ly per­form the du­ties, giv­ing tick­ets and be­ing out there on the street means your safe­ty as well,” an of­fi­cer of the East­ern Di­vi­sion said.

An of­fi­cer from the Port-of-Spain Di­vi­sion said it costs them more than $10,000 to pur­chase uni­forms on their own, and some of them can­not af­ford it.

“Of­fi­cers are not re­quired to pur­chase their own uni­forms,” Sood­een said.

He said all rel­e­vant kit items are pro­vid­ed by the TTPS, and the care and main­te­nance of equip­ment are gov­erned by the Po­lice Ser­vice Reg­u­la­tions..