An­na-Lisa Paul

Se­nior Re­porter

an­na-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

The T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) has com­mend­ed the pub­lic for its co­op­er­a­tion and ad­her­ence to the rule of law dur­ing Mon­day’s Gen­er­al Elec­tion.

In a re­lease yes­ter­day, act­ing Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Ju­nior Ben­jamin said law en­force­ment agents ex­e­cut­ed their man­date with “pre­ci­sion and pro­fes­sion­al­ism” dur­ing the process. He said de­spite the hand­ful of elec­tion-day ir­reg­u­lar­i­ties that had been re­port­ed, “the elec­tion process was con­duct­ed in a peace­ful, safe, and or­der­ly man­ner, al­low­ing the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go to ex­er­cise their de­mo­c­ra­t­ic rights with­out fear or dis­rup­tion.”

One week be­fore the elec­tion, se­nior po­lice of­fi­cials re­vealed they were in­ves­ti­gat­ing cer­tain in­tel­li­gence that sug­gest­ed plans were afoot to dis­rupt the elec­toral process.

How­ev­er, Ben­jamin said he was pleased the pub­lic had demon­strat­ed re­spect for one an­oth­er and the law.

“Your con­duct ex­em­pli­fied the spir­it of democ­ra­cy which has al­ways been part of our ex­pe­ri­ence as a young na­tion,” he said.

Al­so com­mend­ing his coun­ter­part, act­ing Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (DCP), Op­er­a­tions, Curt Si­mon, for his out­stand­ing lead­er­ship as the Gold Com­man­der for the Gen­er­al Elec­tion, Ben­jamin said, “His calm com­mand and op­er­a­tional clar­i­ty en­sured that all se­cu­ri­ty mea­sures were im­ple­ment­ed ef­fi­cient­ly.”

He al­so ac­knowl­edged DCP, In­tel­li­gence and In­ves­ti­ga­tions, Suzette Mar­tin, for her un­wa­ver­ing sup­port and strate­gic di­rec­tion through­out this crit­i­cal pe­ri­od.

Say­ing the Gen­er­al Elec­tion was the lat­est in a se­ries of events which had seen all law en­force­ment agents be­ing pushed to de­liv­er their best, Ben­jamin added, “This elec­tion fol­lowed months of in­tense na­tion­al du­ty for the TTPS—be­gin­ning with the im­po­si­tion of the State of Emer­gency on De­cem­ber 30, 2024, through the Car­ni­val 2025 cel­e­bra­tions, and in­to the in­tense po­lit­i­cal cam­paign sea­son.

“I com­mend all First and Sec­ond Di­vi­sion of­fi­cers who have stood firm, worked long hours, and shown ex­tra­or­di­nary ded­i­ca­tion to ser­vice. Your ef­forts have not gone un­no­ticed. You are the back­bone of law and or­der in this coun­try, and I am proud to lead such a ca­pa­ble and com­mit­ted team.”

Ben­jamin vowed to stand with the men and women of the TTPS who had demon­strat­ed they were more than up to the task of pro­tect­ing this na­tion.

He promised, “To­geth­er, we will con­tin­ue to de­liv­er pro­fes­sion­al, im­par­tial, and ef­fec­tive polic­ing in ser­vice of all cit­i­zens.”

Mean­while, he reaf­firmed his com­mit­ment as the CoP when he vowed to con­tin­ue to “lead with strength, in­tegri­ty, and vi­sion”.

He added, “The TTPS is unit­ed, res­olute, and ready to meet any chal­lenge in de­fence of peace, jus­tice, and democ­ra­cy.”

Echo­ing the same sen­ti­ments as Ben­jamin, Si­mon ex­pressed sat­is­fac­tion with the over­all con­duct of the na­tion­al elec­tion and added his voice to those ap­plaud­ing the TTPS for its ef­fec­tive se­cu­ri­ty op­er­a­tions dur­ing the elec­tion.

Si­mon at­trib­uted that smooth process to the pres­ence and vig­i­lance of po­lice of­fi­cers in every polling di­vi­sion.

He con­firmed in­ves­ti­ga­tions were con­tin­u­ing in­to the ar­rest of a man who was found with $30,000 in cash on his per­son on Mon­day in Mt Lam­bert.

Si­mon said, “In­ves­ti­ga­tions are un­der­way to de­ter­mine whether this in­ci­dent is con­nect­ed to elec­tion-re­lat­ed ac­tiv­i­ties or oth­er mat­ters, and up­dates will be pro­vid­ed to the pub­lic as the in­ves­ti­ga­tion pro­gress­es.”