Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander has announced a major expansion of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, increasing its sanctioned strength by nearly thirty per cent to just over 10,000 officers.
Speaking in Parliament on Friday, he said the Police Service will move from 7,884 officers to 10,200.
The Minister noted that the effective daily deployment of officers is currently closer to 5,500 on any given day.
“Officers are necessarily engaged in vacation leave, sick leave, training, administrative assignments, court attendance, and specialist operational duties. Mr. Speaker, the reality, therefore, is that the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service has been required to police a modern and increasingly complex criminal environment with a frontline operational strength sufficiently below its sanctioned establishment.”
Minister Alexander explained that while the TTPS has developed specialised units to respond to evolving criminal threats, this has placed additional strain on existing resources.
“The specialised units were created without any corresponding increase in the overall establishment and specialist divisions. This results in fewer officers being visible, available within the communities, reduction in patrols, increasing operational strain, and growing overtime dependencies. Mr. Speaker, the Government cannot ask police to do more with less.”
He said increasing manpower will strengthen police visibility in communities, act as a deterrent to criminal activity, and improve response times.
The expansion is expected to roll out in phases over a five-year period.
“Six hundred officers in the first year, 600 officers in the second year, and 372 officers annually in year three, four, and five.”
The Police Service will also expand its training and academic capacity to ensure recruitment standards are maintained.