Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Er­la Hare­wood-Christo­pher has or­dered train­ing on the use of Body Worn Cam­eras, and this will con­tin­ue as fur­ther cam­eras are is­sued to po­lice of­fi­cers.

In a state­ment from the TTPS, it said the Com­mis­sion­er al­so gave ex­plic­it in­struc­tions to all Di­vi­sion­al Heads and Heads of Units and Sec­tions, re­gard­ing the manda­to­ry use of Body Worn Cam­eras, by of­fi­cers who were is­sued with such de­vices.

It said to date, 1,120 de­vices have been is­sued, and the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) plans to pur­chase 2,000 de­vices.

Ac­cord­ing to the TTPS, Com­mis­sion­er Hare­wood-Christo­pher said that while at times there may be a re­luc­tance to im­ple­ment new sys­tems and tech­nolo­gies, in this case, of­fi­cers are guid­ed by pol­i­cy, and as such, any breach of this pol­i­cy will be met with the req­ui­site dis­ci­pli­nary ac­tion.

The CoP al­so added, “I am aware of the im­por­tance, val­ue and ben­e­fits of Body Worn Cam­eras, they al­low for greater trans­paren­cy and lead to faster res­o­lu­tions of in­ves­ti­ga­tions, which in turn builds pub­lic trust and con­fi­dence in the po­lice”.