Regional security expert Dr. Garvin Heerah says properly structured Zones of Special Operations legislation could have reduced the need for Trinidad and Tobago’s latest State of Emergency.
He maintains that intelligence-led hotspot policing, supported by stronger operational control, may have provided an alternative response to escalating crime.
Dr. Heerah said the proposed framework would let authorities focus resources on identified areas, boost patrols, and improve coordination.
He emphasised that effectiveness relies on a visible, sustained command presence and suggested that planning, asset deployment, and strategy should aim to prevent crime rather than responding after the fact.
“The ZOSOs give a certain sort of high visibility. It gives the increase of patrols, and it also gives the command and control over certain areas that were intelligence-led and identified. Key to the ZOSOs, so it’s not just identifying areas as hot zones or hot spots, and therefore there’s a ZOSOs in that area. Key to that is the command-and-control effect.”
Dr. Heerah further proposed the use of mobile command centres integrated into the national security grid, allowing law enforcement to maintain a sustained presence in high-risk communities. He said such an approach could strengthen deterrence and restore control of key corridors.
“I went further to say that in our planning, in our catering, we should also seek to, you know, do that whole aspect of procurement and acquisition for mobile command centres that can be situated in certain areas related to these ZOSOs, or as we are right now in the SOE, so that there is a command and control presence of these areas, so that those mobile command centres would be command centres that are controlling an area.”
While the State of Emergency is now in effect, Dr. Heerah maintains that a fully developed Zones of Special Operations framework, grounded in intelligence, visibility, and sustained control, may have offered a targeted alternative to emergency powers.