Wednesday, December 2 2009

THE TT Police Service is on a recruitment drive to reach the required complement of at least 7,000 police officers to tackle the current crime situation. Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert admitted to the Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament yesterday that there are only about 3,000 officers on active duty on a daily basis.

For the past five years, he said, deficiencies in training hindered the progress of the police service which has affected service presently. Philbert said that with the assistance of a provost in the Police Academy, training will be developed. He added however that the lack of sufficient manpower has also resulted in a lack in the service.

“We are challenged by the fact that we ought to have 7,000 plus police officers which is what we call our sanction strength. Now a sanction strength is a number of police officers needed. For us that changed since last time we looked at it and we are looking at it again to know where we are. We consider what new issues come up in policing.

One is ability and two the whole expanse of residential areas in the country. Also, the fact that a police officer needs to be trained regularly. We also look at the question of sick leave and we have to cater for a large number of females in the service,” Philbert said.

He added that at this point there was a shortfall of between 1,200 and 1,400 officers in the service to reach the sanction strength.

JSC member Dr Tim Gopeesingh asked Philbert how many officers actually work on a daily basis, given the fact some officers work three shifts in one day, are on sick leave or are to appear in court. Philbert replied that there are about 3,000 officers working in one day.

In an effort to make up for the current lack, Philbert said the service is seeking to train about 200 new recruits every six months. According to the plans of the provost however, these recruits will be trained in batches of 60 in different areas every two months to ensure training is effective, given the existing limitations of the academy. The Commissioner said about 200 new recruits trained in this manner will form part of the service by February with another 200 waiting to receive training.