THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has revealed that his planned specialised police units for the sister isle, will come on stream from May 27th.
Speaking on the Tobago Updates morning show yesterday (May 21), Augustine said he has already held discussions with Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Tobago, Collis Hazel along with representatives of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force about rolling out a strategy of bringing specialist police units from Trinidad to Tobago.
He said the strategy has always been that whenever there is a surge in crime, a team of officers from Trinidad would arrive, “hot up the place and then they return.” But now, he said, the time had come for those units to be based in Tobago.
He said for that to happen, the THA must provide accommodation and transport.
He said there were also plans for Defence Force members stationed at Camp Signal Hill to make patrols.
“In the past, we use to benefit from community comfort patrol. The challenge…is that they weren’t necessarily precepted. They did not carry arms with them and so their own safety became a challenge and so utilising the defence force to do the patrols around the island means that we are coming with some force behind that.”
Augustine believes the patrols will create a greater sense of confidence as crime fighting must happen on several fronts: apprehending and solving; prevention; and creating confidence in the population.
He said action would take place almost immediately where that is concerned.
Augustine said: “…Progress and modernity has caused families and individuals to move away from some of our moral foundations and perhaps this is a time for recentring and refocusing and reshuffling of hearts, reshuffling of minds and reshuffling of morals.”
He said perhaps this is a time for introspection.
“For each us to sit and look inward and ask ourselves, ‘What can I do to help save my island and how can I do it better?’
“But here is the good news: Tobago, our paradise has not been lost. Our paradise is still here. We still have the greatest little island on the planet that we can work with and for that to remain, it means that all hands must be on deck.”