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.

Res­i­dents in sev­er­al Mor­vant com­mu­ni­ties say they are not op­posed to the pro­posed Zones of Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions (ZOSOs), but re­main scep­ti­cal about the re­sults the ini­tia­tive can achieve, ar­gu­ing that years of promised crime-fight­ing mea­sures have failed to make their com­mu­ni­ties safer.

With the State of Emer­gency (SoE) end­ing yes­ter­day, Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (CoP) Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro said the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) is ready to re­spond when­ev­er nec­es­sary to keep the coun­try safe.

As the State of Emer­gency (SoE) ex­pired and de­tainees held un­der Pre­ven­ta­tive De­ten­tion Or­ders (PDOs) were re­leased yes­ter­day, Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (CoP) Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro warned that those re­turn­ing to their com­mu­ni­ties would be en­ter­ing a “dif­fer­ent polic­ing en­vi­ron­ment.”

A sea bath, fast food and time with fam­i­ly. These were the plans of some of the for­mer de­tainees held un­der Pre­ven­tive De­ten­tion Or­ders (PDOs) as they were re­leased yes­ter­day fol­low­ing the end of the State of Emer­gency (SoE).

A Free­dom of In­for­ma­tion re­sponse from the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) seems to con­tra­dict the ex­pla­na­tions giv­en by both Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (CoP) Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro and Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar about the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing the Com­mis­sion­er’s con­tro­ver­sial over­seas trip last month.

Rev­ellers un­able to book their tick­ets on the seabridge for the Oc­to­ber car­ni­val may get their op­por­tu­ni­ty on Mon­day, as the Port Au­thor­i­ty will an­nounce ad­di­tion­al sail­ings of the Buc­coo Reef and T&T Spir­it fast fer­ries.

The Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) is not rul­ing out protest ac­tion if nec­es­sary as it con­tin­ues to re­ject the Gov­ern­ment’s pro­pos­al for pay­ing civ­il ser­vants the back­pay re­sult­ing from their ten per cent wage in­crease.

No class­es are tak­ing place at San Juan North Sec­ondary School amid con­cerns about safe­ty and se­cu­ri­ty at the in­sti­tu­tion, fol­low­ing a rob­bery and as­sault of a staff mem­ber last Thurs­day.

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Na­tion­al Nurs­es As­so­ci­a­tion (TTNNA) is urg­ing cau­tion as the North Cen­tral Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty (NCRHA) launch­es its new pa­tient care shut­tle at the Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ences Com­plex (EWM­SC) in Mt Hope.