Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith said that the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service will do what they “must” now that they lost the additional aid of the private security companies.
When the Government announced on Tuesday that it had retained four private security companies-Amalgamated Security, Allied Security, Innovative Technologies and Protective Agencies Ltd- Griffith said that it provided additional eyes and ears for the TTPS.
However, on Wednesday National Security Minister Stuart Young said the one-day-old initiative was cancelled.
“We would do what we can and what we must. We were adhering to our mandate before,” he said.
“This policy would have assisted. It just means that I have to stretch the Area of Responsibility of my Units,” Griffith said.
When asked if he agreed with Young’s new stance, Griffith said, “it is amazing that the media expects a police commissioner to give views or comments, agreement or disagreement with policy decisions that are to be made by Government”.
He also said that the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force is already “out supporting us in joint patrols.”
Griffith said that he was “informed and briefed” about the use of private security to bolster visibility in residential areas.
“And I made certain recommendations to ensure that we could maximise the value- having them log in and out of stations etc,” Griffith said. (See Page 5)
