RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

"South­west­ern Di­vi­sion has the low­est crime rate and the high­est crime de­tec­tions in T&T and it's no won­der this is so, as the com­mu­ni­ty plays an im­por­tant role in polic­ing."

So said In­sp Ra­makr­ish­na Per­sad as the Pe­nal Po­lice Com­mu­ni­ty Coun­cil part­nered with po­lice to cel­e­brate the 80th an­niver­sary of Spe­cial Re­serve Po­lice last Sat­ur­day.

The fam­i­ly fun day and health fair took place on the grounds of the Pe­nal Po­lice Sta­tion and was at­tend­ed by com­mu­ni­ty sports coun­cils, vil­lage groups, re­li­gious and cul­tur­al lead­ers, vil­lage watch group rep­re­sen­ta­tives and busi­ness own­ers.

Chil­dren were treat­ed to free snow­cones, pop­corn, and snacks, while the adults re­ceived blood pres­sure checks, sug­ar test­ing and lit­er­a­ture on non-com­mu­ni­ca­ble dis­eases from the TTPS.

Var­i­ous arms of the TTPS in­clud­ing the Crime and Prob­lem Analy­sis (CA­PA), Emer­gency Rapid Re­sponse, High­ways Di­vi­sion, Ca­nine Unit and Mount­ed Branch par­tic­i­pat­ed in the ac­tiv­i­ties show­ing guests var­i­ous as­pects of polic­ing.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia, In­sp Per­sad said that even though there are chal­lenges in the Di­vi­sion with the il­le­gal en­try of im­mi­grants, drugs and guns through the porous bor­ders, the po­lice were work­ing as­sid­u­ous­ly to solve the crime.

"We are us­ing what­ev­er re­sources we have in the TTPS. We have oth­er arms of na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty who are re­spon­si­ble for go­ing on pa­trols, we have checks and we are there li­ais­ing with the com­mu­ni­ty and busi­ness own­ers every step," he said.

He not­ed that brochures were be­ing dis­trib­uted so the pub­lic can have di­rect con­tact with se­nior of­fi­cers of the Di­vi­sion.

"We have an open door pol­i­cy in this Di­vi­sion and we are let­ting peo­ple know if they have in­for­ma­tion on crime, they can come to us," he said.

He added: "We are about 4,000 full-time spe­cial re­serves and 2,000 part-time. We are in­to Wit­ness pro­tec­tion as well and we are ready to pro­tect and serve."

Mean­while, As­sis­tant Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Bran­don John said Sat­ur­day's event was part of the 80th an­niver­sary of Spe­cial Re­serves po­lice.

"We are cel­e­brat­ing the vol­ume of work they have done to bring re­lief to the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice. They are the back­bone struc­ture of the TTPS. Ini­tial­ly, they meant to work part-time but as time went on they have been do­ing yeo­man ser­vice to this coun­try and the TTPS," John said.

Mean­while, Pres­i­dent of the Pe­nal Po­lice Com­mu­ni­ty Coun­cil Dhar­min­dra Lall said the Pe­nal Po­lice Com­mu­ni­ty Coun­cil has been bridg­ing the gap be­tween po­lice and cit­i­zens.

"We lob­by for the pub­lic to gain trust with the po­lice. We are here as a com­mu­ni­ty to part­ner with the p[olice," Lall said. He not­ed that they meet on the first Tues­day of every month to dis­cuss is­sues in the com­mu­ni­ty.

"Gen­er­al­ly, crime is an is­sue here not on­ly in Pe­nal but al­so in the coun­try but we be­lieve every­one in the com­mu­ni­ty has to come on board and give help be­cause the po­lice can­not do it alone," he added.