The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) is being asked to investigate allegations of gang involvement between several police officers involved in a program called the Gang Reduction and Community Empowerment Programme (Grace). This program is a multimillion-dollar Uni¬¬ted States-funded programme aimed at reducing gang-related crime and strengthen¬ing the relationship be¬tween police and com¬munities at risk, is under investigation by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) and the Police Commission¬er for possible disciplinary violations.
The programme which was launched in May 2022 by then-US Charge d’Affaires Shante Moore and implemented by the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) to combat gang violence in Trinidad and Tobago, now is called into question due to a report which allegedly outlines financial and security concerns, and allegations that senior Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) officers were trying to influence the selection process to get an unfair advantage for promotion through the Grace programme, as well as attempts to suppress a report within the TTPS to prevent the matter from being investigated. The US contributed US$1.5 million to the initiative for 18 months, which ended in November 2023.
The Gang Reduction and Community Em¬¬powerment Programme (Grace) core team is said to be made up of at least six police offi¬cers and other officers trained across the divisions, with a mandate to prevent young people from joining gang, and to encourage other who may have joined gangs in the past to leave the ganga. The GRACE officers are typically deployed to high-¬risk communities, where they co-ordinate local activities.
The report focused on the east west corridor because of the alleged involvement of a civilian connected with the Grace programme who was allegedly in a relationship with a partic¬ular man who is not only known to be affiliated with gangs but also had his family set up a committee in that area and who were being granted resources “unfairly” through the programme.
One of the areas of concern raised in this report is that the man allegedly with gang connections, gave armed gang members jerseys bearing the logos of the US Embassy, TTPS and Grace, at a Grace community event in East Trinidad. The reports is said to be under investigation by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) and the Police Commission¬er for possible disciplinary violations.