Sev­er­al Op­po­si­tion MPs have raised con­cerns about the Gov­ern­ment’s new Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill, with for­mer min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty and Port-of-Spain South MP Kei­th Scot­land de­scrib­ing it as “more egre­gious and se­ri­ous” than the Zone of Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions (ZOSO) Bill that failed in the Sen­ate ear­li­er this year.

Crim­i­nol­o­gist Dr Randy Seep­er­sad has wel­comed the stronger ju­di­cial over­sight pro­posed un­der the new Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill but cau­tions that the leg­is­la­tion risks be­com­ing lit­tle more than a crime-sup­pres­sion mea­sure if it fails to ad­dress the so­cial con­di­tions that con­tribute to crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ty.

The Gov­ern­ment has sig­nif­i­cant­ly rewrit­ten its con­tro­ver­sial Zones of Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions (ZOSO) leg­is­la­tion, re­plac­ing it with the Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill, 2026.

As Par­lia­ment pre­pares to de­bate the Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill to­day, a dis­pute over the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice’s (TTPS) body-worn cam­era ca­pac­i­ty has raised fresh ques­tions about the safe­guards that would ac­com­pa­ny the ex­pand­ed po­lice pow­ers pro­posed un­der the leg­is­la­tion.