The Special Victims Unit (SVU) of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) has said it will not speak directly to residents at children’s homes and will instead rely on the “integrity” of the adults at the facilities to report abuse to the authorities.
Yesterday, SVU head, Superintendent Claire-Guy Alleyne, also admitted that no one has yet come forward with respect to allegations of physical and sexual abuse highlighted in the 2021 Justice Judith Jones report.
Guardian Media asked Guy-Alleyne if a reason for that may be that these survivors are still residents at these facilities and therefore are not able to come directly to the police to make a report and whether a more proactive approach was needed, such as direct intervention.
However, Guy-Alleyne said that would not be appropriate.
“We don’t necessarily have to go into the homes because you don’t want to just walk up to a random child and ask ‘hear what, are you being abused?’ That is not a conversation that you have with children just like that.”
Guy-Alleyne said instead, the TTPS is relying on those in authority at the facilities to do the right thing and pass on those reports.
“Children must be able to trust adults and come forward with the information as to whether or not you know something is happening to them or not and then the matter would be investigated...currently, reports do come to the police from children’s homes. Remember there are caregivers, there are security officers and there are other personnel on the compound.”
The 2021 report revealed that some of the abuse and cover-ups are perpetrated by the very same adults they are asking the children to trust with that information.
Guardian Media raised this with the SVU head, who said that she is hoping the people who work at the homes have “some sort of integrity.”
“Those caregivers and social workers are mandated under the law to report it to the police. I’ll tell you something, if they have information and they are keeping it to themselves relative to sexual assaults they have a question to answer, because you are mandated and you are duty-bound, so if not today, tomorrow, next week, whenever the information reached the police, you would have a question to answer.”
Guy-Alleyne said children may also see police officers during their visits to homes and they can always use that opportunity to have a conversation.
“But you wouldn’t go directly to every child and say ‘were you abused?’ We have to be careful how we deal with children, as we don’t want to stigmatise, you don’t want a child to feel any kind of way, it is very sensitive.”
But one member of the 2021 Judith Jones investigative committee does not agree with the TTPS’ approach. Gender expert Marcus Kissoon said the TTPS cannot depend on the homes to advocate on behalf of the children.
“We can’t have lazy and cowardly policing moving forward. The research and investigation have shown that child abuse exists and children find it difficult to come forward. We need a system to ensure their confidentiality and space for sharing without fear. The home and the Children’s Authority have failed in this area, that could be seen in the report.”
Kissoon said the 2021 report cannot be treated as a “one-off” event but rather a pattern of behaviour.
“We can’t put power in the hands of abusive adults. We need to understand children’s vulnerabilities and risk because perpetrators use it against them, we need to take that power and confidence to abuse away from them.”
Kissoon said more than ever, there needs to be the creation of a children’s ombudsperson to advocate on behalf of these children and monitor how investigations are done.