Senior Reporter
shane.superville
@guardian.co.tt
Senior police officers say that while the arrangements are still being finalised, T&T Defence Force reserves will work closely alongside divisional police in patrolling “crime hotspots”.
In a media release on Monday, President Christine Kangaloo announced that 100 members of the Volunteer Defence Force members will be called out to strengthen the operational capacities of the T&T Police Service between October 30, 2023, to February 29, 2024.
Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday, one senior police officer said the reserves will be used based on a model similar to the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF), where soldiers and police officers will go on joint exercises and patrols.
He said while the final number of soldiers has not yet been confirmed, they will be assigned to provide additional patrols through designated “high-risk” areas.
“There will be a lot of exercises through the typical hotspot zones, so places like east Port-of-Spain, Belmont and further west into Diego Martin and Carenage. There are already soldiers in places like Scorpion Alley, Carenage, which assist the divisional police with exercises,” the officer said.
“This is really intended to provide additional pairs of hands to assist the police. This can stretch the existing resources of the police even further, so whereas before there were four police officers in a vehicle patrolling, there will be two police officers and two soldiers.”
The officer said he was optimistic such an initiative will yield results. He said while soldiers did not have powers of arrest, they will be utilised to provide additional assistance to officers in various crime suppression exercises.
Police said as of yesterday afternoon, they were still awaiting the reserve soldiers to be deployed.
Contacted for comment, one Defence Force source said while the Chief of Defence Staff commands the soldiers, how and where they will be deployed will be done through the TTPS.
