Senior Reporter
shane.superville@guardian.co.tt
This month, in the space of a week, two police officers were murdered in separate, unrelated incidents while working part-time as security guards.
PC Jerome Bleasdell was shot dead as he was getting into a car after finishing work at a supermarket on the Eastern Main Road, San Juan, on October 12. Days later, on the night of October 19, PC Sheldon Peterson was gunned down by bandits as he sat outside the Awesome Food and Drinks Supermarket on Olton Road, Arima.
They were not the only police officers killed while working as private security officers in recent times.
On Christmas Eve 2019, PC Nicholas Victor was gunned down while working as a security guard at a Caroni grocery. His licensed pistol was also stolen during the incident.
Weeks earlier, on December 1, 50-year-old Sgt Roger Williams of the Court and Process Branch, was struck by a stray bullet near the casino where he worked as a security guard on Charlotte Street. A woman Natoya Christian, 31, was killed during that attack.
Working as private security is usually the simplest and most convenient part-time job available for officers in operational units. Still, the prevalence of crime in T&T means that they might be at greater risk out of uniform than when on duty.
Kevin Ramroop (not his real name) always knew the dangers of becoming a police officer.
Over ten years he has worked in the North Eastern, Central and Port of Spain Divisions, he has been shot at, involved in car chases and was almost mauled by a pit bull while entering someone’s property during a raid.
Kevin said while the risk of police work is clear, his biggest unease comes while he is at his part-time job.
For almost as long as he has been a police officer, Kevin has worked as a security guard at a Chinese-owned grocery.
He spends most days on the lookout for shoplifters and helping customers find parking, but there is always the threat of an armed robbery.
This year has been one of the most dangerous for police officers with three shot and six murdered in incidents as of Thursday evening.
Working as private security adds to the danger for police officers but Kevin said the extra cash is needed more than ever by officers struggling to make ends meet.
During a Standing Finance Committee meeting in Parliament on October 11, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds announced that the TTPS was working to reduce their spending on overtime while trying to get more productivity from officers during their regular working hours.
“The Commissioner is mandated to rearrange the affairs of the deployments and shifts and all that she must do as leader of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service to gain more from the officers in their normal working hours so as to suppress and to reduce the need for overtime,” he said.
Under the Police Service Act, officers are not allowed to have other jobs without authorisation from the Commissioner.
Kevin said he is paid in cash at a rate of $50 an hour, which usually amounts to $6000 per month. He said he needs this additional income as his TTPS salary barely covers all of his monthly expenses for rent, groceries, fuel for his car and child care.
He explained: “My girlfriend and I usually split the bill for a lot of our living expenses. I drop our son off at daycare and then I take her to work.
“From there I take a maxi to work and meet her at her workplace after a shift to head back home, all to avoid burning fuel, but really and truly there’s only so far that money can go.”
On the incremental salary scale, which shows the basic salaries of police officers, a constable earns roughly $6,973. Depending on their length of service, they could make up to $9,739, it was not the case for several police officers who have not received their increments.
Kevin says the situation is particularly dire for suspended police officers who receive only part of their salary and are desperate for additional income.
Police Association: Police duties must come first
President of the TTPS Social Welfare Association acting ASP Gideon Dickson said he did not have information to suggest that more police officers are seeking part-time jobs. While he was sympathetic about the financial strain experienced by some officers, he insisted that part-time work should not affect their performance on duty.
Referring to the Police Service Regulations which bars officers from “skipping work” to do private jobs, Dickson said a willing, competent police workforce is needed now more than ever. While there is nothing wrong with officers wanting to earn extra money legally, he urged them to follow the necessary protocols.
“Don’t compromise and sacrifice your livelihood, your job security, by going and doing something that you weren’t given approval to do,” he said.
Dickson admitted that the process for applying for extra duty has become more complicated in recent years and urged the TTPS leadership to review it with officers’ convenience in mind.
“The process has become a little more bureaucratic and is causing officers some hardship,” he said.
“Extra duty, as the name suggests, means that when the officers work, they should get paid almost immediately and it becomes awkward when officers in the Fire Service perform similar extra duty for the same time are paid immediately, but the police must wait up to months before they can get their dues.”
Responding to concerns about a cutback in overtime for police officers, Dickson said while such decisions are within the Police Commissioner’s remit, officers are entitled to compensation once they work beyond their hours.
He said officers would naturally be required to take on more duties than usual which may exceed working hours if there were shortages in manpower.
“Just how we work we’ll be making overtime and once enquiries are conducted on investigations that are taking place, officers will be required to go beyond, but the situation becomes more amplified when you have a shortage of a labour force and have a crime pandemic to manage.
He asked: “Speaking about cutting back on overtime and not actually seeing the value of the officers going beyond if those officers weren’t going beyond what would have been the situation for T&T right now?”
Dickson said at the Police Training Academy recruits are taught financial literacy and how to manage their income.
Security guards face more danger than cops.
President of the Estate Police Association (EPA) Deryck Richardson said he was not surprised at the concerns raised by police officers as he has repeatedly highlighted the dangers faced by security guards.
In addition to limited equipment and resources, guards contend with more brazen criminals who exercise no restraint, he said.
Criminals might be hesitant to attack police officers on duty for fear of the consequences but security guards are not seen in the same way, Richardson pointed out.
“We work at the businessplaces where the bandits are coming to rob. Someone who comes with nefarious intentions to rob an establishment, his first order of business is to take out the security and then they are free to do what they want,” he said.
“The danger estate constables face is most pronounced when you see the number of security guards who have been killed compared to police officers over the last number of years.”
Kevin said the danger is particularly significant for off-duty officers who do not always have guns while on duty. Officers on patrol usually have the backing of ten officers with automatic weapons and body armour but the situation was different for security guards at a businessplace.
However, more of his colleagues are seeking part-time jobs.
“It is rising and will continue to rise because our salary isn’t increasing and things are getting more expensive,” Kevin said.
“We try to make ends meet by doing something legitimate but there are others who will want to do something illegal.
“We don’t want that for ourselves because it almost always leads to trouble but there aren’t many options outside of that.”
Richardson said he is not aware that more police officers are seeking part-time jobs as security officers but raised concerns about claims that some off-duty police officers are being paid significantly higher wages than sentries from a security company.
This may be due to the perception that police officers were more competent and efficient at preventing robberies, although once outnumbered anyone could be in danger.
“They come at security with greater numbers and AR 15s and those kinds of weapons. When you hire someone directly, there are no other deductions that have to be paid.
“If you hire someone through a security company the company may take $50 (an hour) and pay you $20,” he said.
Dickson agreed with Richardson but felt police officers in a private security setting are at significant risk.
“Whether it’s a trained security officer or a trained police officer, crimes of opportunities, once these opportunities present themselves and these persons see a weak target, they will do whatever they can to achieve their goal.
“They don’t give any consideration as to whether you are police, security or even the average civilian going to buy your groceries,” he said.
In the incident in which PC Sheldon Peterson was killed, two bystanders were shot in their feet with stray bullets fired by the bandits.
Richardson has repeatedly advocated for the well-being of security guards following violent robberies, particularly the murders of Jeffrey Peters and Jerry Stuart in the chaotic Pennywise Plaza heist in La Romaine in 2022.
He argues that security guards should be more adequately equipped to defend themselves given the evolving criminal threat.
As T&T’s murder toll is expected to surge past last year’s figure, the need for strong security networks remains.
Kevin said he takes his job as a police officer seriously but he has no intentions of stopping his work as a part-time security guard. His son will be starting primary school soon and life for his family will become more expensive.
Cops wounded or killed this year (put in box)
• January: Off-duty policeman PC Ravindra Harrinarine was shot and killed outside a friend’s home on Bassie Street, Spring Village, Valsayn. His licensed pistol was stolen by the gunmen.
• February: Cpl Marlone Mitchell, was shot and killed when his licensed pistol was wrestled from his grip by another man during a heated exchange. The man later surrendered to the police with his attorney and returned Marlone’s gun.
• March: Larry Phillip, 51, a sergeant in the police band was one of four people gunned down in Harpe Place, east Port-of-Spain, during a drive-by shooting.
• May: PC Dale Mayers, 53, was gunned down when he tried to thwart a robbery at a Longdenville bar where he was liming.
• July: PC Shakala Charles of the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) was shot when a round of 5.56 ammunition pierced his bulletproof vest. Charles and other officers were responding to a report of a shooting on St Paul Street, east Port-of-Spain, at the time.
• July: A 39-year-old off-duty policeman was shot in his right arm by bandits who tried to rob him in Barataria.
• October 12: PC Jerome Bleasdell was shot and killed as he was leaving a San Juan supermarket where he worked as a security guard.
• October 19: PC Sheldon Peterson was gunned down when he confronted bandits outside an Arima grocery where he worked as a security guard.
• October 22: PC Quianna Mahabir of the TTPS band was shot in her head outside her Cunupia home. She is warded at hospital in serious condition.