A Special Operations Counter Home/Business Invasion Task Force, a Special Anti-Crime Operations Unit and Illegal Firearms and Ammunition Retrieval Task Force.
These are just some of the units the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service is planning to create after receiving an allocation of $2.6 billion for 2025.
This is found in the 2025 Budget (Appropriation) document, including the Development Plan and Expenditure Report.
In the Infrastructure Development Fund, the TTPS has $90 million, of which $67.5 million is for public order and safety. New items in the TTPS’s IDF include the establishment of the Special Operations Counter Home/Business Invasions Task Force costing $225,000; a Special Anti-Crime Operations Unit and Illegal Firearms and Ammunition Retrieval Task Force.
Also listed is the establishment of a $3 million Seismic Fusion Centre. Improvement work to police stations is also planned under the IDF costing $1.5 million, and the construction of an Anti-Crime Unit headquarters in Tobago at the Old Grange Police Station to the tune of half a million dollars.
Other new TTPS projects include the setting up of a Police Community and Outreach Programme unit, training and development for officers for $ 6 million, and a $5 million state-of-the-art police academy at Cumuto.
The upgrade of police surveillance and training support (CCTV) systems will cost $1.5 million, with the development of computerised systems for TTPS services costing $15 million.
The TTPS has also resurrected some projects, including the riverine patrol unit for $1.5 million and virtual courts for $1 million. Adding to security systems is the Local Government Ministry’s new $1.2 million pilot project Eyes Everywhere involving municipal police. An estimated $1.8 million was set aside for municipal police equipment and vehicles. Residence for female child offenders coming.
However, the TTPS is not the only sector of National Security with major plans listed. Other new defence projects include the new Teteron Barracks at Crow’s Nest for $1 million, the upgrade of the Coast Guard’s Tobago headquarters, and the formation of a Coast Guard base at Galeota.
Also for 2025 is a new Migration Transition Centre (costing $500,000). The property will be acquired for this in South Trinidad. The National Security Ministry’s plans will also see an “Elders” complex at Golden Grove for $2 million and a new Military Cemetery and Multipurpose Religious Centre costing half a million dollars.
The ministry stated that it also aims to establish a $2 million Defence Military Academy at Corinth, an $88 million integrated support service for the T&T Coast Guard’s (TTCG) naval assets and a $5 million upgrade of the country’s radio communication infrastructure.
Two million dollars have been set aside for the electronic monitoring device programme, which will involve “cut-proof” devices, $1 million in community residence for female child offenders, and the reactivation of a prison management policy and training for this is also on the agenda.
Also listed are the $5 million acquisition of TTCG interceptors, Immigration’s $3 million plan to upgrade to automated fingerprint ID systems, and the $4 million acquisition of equipment and vehicles for the Fire Service, refurbishment of TTFS vehicles, and purchase of TTFS equipment.
Reconstruction of the Princes Town Fire Station is also part of the 2025 plan. However, there was no funding listed for an item in the report called the National Baseline Survey to Measure Safety and Security. In 2023, $120,956 was budgeted for this item.