An­na-Lisa Paul

Se­nior Re­porter

an­na-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Roger Alexan­der is urg­ing the lat­est batch of in­com­ing po­lice of­fi­cers to put down their cell­phones and make the harsh de­ci­sions where and when need­ed, not in the in­ter­est of get­ting likes on so­cial me­dia but be­cause it is the right thing to do.

De­liv­er­ing this mes­sage as he ad­dressed Batch­es Three and Four of 2024 dur­ing a Pass­ing Out Pa­rade at the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) Acad­e­my in St James on Mon­day, he re­mind­ed them of the au­gust ranks they had now joined.

He im­plored the 256 grad­u­ates to stand out, “Not on­ly for law and or­der but al­so for the badge and the oath of of­fice you took to pro­tect.”

He said that al­though polic­ing was of­ten seen as a thank­less job, Alexan­der urged them to strive to al­ways em­body the prin­ci­ples of in­tegri­ty, re­silience, and a deep sense of du­ty.

He begged the lat­est batch of po­lice re­cruits not to be swayed by what they saw on so­cial me­dia, as it was usu­al­ly post­ed by peo­ple who did not un­der­stand polic­ing or the stand­ing or­ders of TTPS.

“Be coura­geous. Demon­strate in­tegri­ty, dis­ci­pline, re­silien­cy, and show this na­tion once again that the TTPS is about ac­tion and not talk,” he said.

“Too many times, we get caught up in talk and no ac­tions, and then the pub­lic com­plains about our lack of ser­vice.”