Var­i­ous se­cu­ri­ty stake­hold­ers in­clud­ing as­so­ci­a­tions rep­re­sent­ing of­fi­cers of the pro­tec­tive ser­vices say they look for­ward to work­ing with the in­com­ing gov­ern­ment’s na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty of­fi­cials.

Pres­i­dent of the TTPS So­cial Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion (TTPSS­WA) act­ing ASP Gideon Dick­son said while po­lice of­fi­cers were pre­pared to work with their new line min­is­ter, the is­sue of salary ne­go­ti­a­tions re­mains a top pri­or­i­ty.

“Im­me­di­ate­ly off the cuff, the is­sue of salary ne­go­ti­a­tions and the promis­es made by those who are now as­cend­ing to of­fice. We look for­ward to meet­ing to en­gage on be­half of our mem­ber­ship.”

In De­cem­ber 2023, the as­so­ci­a­tion agreed to ac­cept the four per cent salary in­crease for the pe­ri­od 2014 to 2019.

Dick­son said he looked for­ward to work­ing with the new gov­ern­ment and hear­ing their plans on how to op­ti­mise the ca­pac­i­ties of the po­lice ser­vice.

Dick­son al­so thanked out­go­ing Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Mar­vin Gon­za­les and Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young and wished them the best.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia pres­i­dent of the Prison Of­fi­cers As­so­ci­a­tion Ger­ard Gor­don re­spond­ed to the UNC’s elec­tion vic­to­ry not­ing that there was a “sense of hope,” among prison of­fi­cers for the new gov­ern­ment. 

Gor­don ad­mit­ted that for­mer Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Fitzger­ald Hinds was not one of the as­so­ci­a­tion’s “favourite peo­ple” as he was dis­pleased with the way he ad­dressed their con­cerns.

In a mes­sage to the in­com­ing gov­ern­ment, the POA said it was will­ing to work with them, once those in au­thor­i­ty were pre­pared to hear their con­cerns. 

“The Prison Of­fi­cers As­so­ci­a­tion is not your en­e­my, in fact we are your al­ly and any­thing we sug­gest or speak to, it is al­ways with a view to ben­e­fit­ting the of­fi­cers of the TT Prison Ser­vice and by ex­ten­sion to the pub­lic, so lis­ten to us.”

Mean­while, re­gion­al se­cu­ri­ty ex­pert Garvin Heer­ah said he has “high ex­pec­ta­tions” of the new min­is­ter in­clud­ing more ro­bust as­sess­ment mech­a­nisms to gauge the per­for­mance of the State’s se­cu­ri­ty ap­pa­ra­tus.

Heer­ah said the change in T&T’s lead­er­ship de­mand­ed a “bold and vi­sion­ary” na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty strat­e­gy, which he said should in­clude a new vi­sion and re­newed man­date.

“Cen­tral to this trans­for­ma­tion must be the es­tab­lish­ment of a Strate­gic Ad­vi­so­ry Team - an elite co­hort of mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary ex­perts in in­tel­li­gence, law en­force­ment, de­fence, cri­sis com­mu­ni­ca­tion, cy­ber re­silience and me­dia man­age­ment.

“This team will serve as a brain trust, guid­ing the min­is­ter through da­ta-dri­ven, mis­sion-fo­cused de­ci­sion-mak­ing.”

Heer­ah al­so ad­vised that the new Min­is­ter should pri­ori­tise the wel­fare and morale of mem­bers of the pro­tec­tive ser­vices.

“Re­build­ing morale, restor­ing pride and re­in­forc­ing the val­ue of ser­vice are es­sen­tial for sus­tained in­sti­tu­tion­al per­for­mance.”

And for­mer Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty and Ret’d Brigadier Gen­er­al Carl Al­fon­so said he is pre­pared and will­ing to serve in a con­sul­tan­cy role if asked by the in­com­ing UNC gov­ern­ment.

Al­fon­so, 80, was Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty un­der the then Peo­ple’s Part­ner­ship gov­ern­ment from Feb­ru­ary to Sep­tem­ber 2015.

He served in the TT Reg­i­ment from 1963 to 1999.

“I am a pa­tri­ot, I don’t get in­to the pol­i­tics of the day, but I do have some ex­pe­ri­ence, train­ing and knowl­edge that could ben­e­fit the na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty fra­ter­ni­ty.”

Al­fon­so urged the in­com­ing Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter to seek ad­vice from qual­i­fied peo­ple, as he ac­knowl­edged the role was a “tough job.”