Homeland Security Minister: TTPS Hampered by $500 Million Debt
Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander says the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service is unable to properly equip itself due to a TT$500 million debt, which he said occurred under the previous administration.
Speaking during the debate on the State of Emergency extension on Wednesday, he said the system he inherited was so financially crippled that even basic law enforcement requirements could not be met, severely undermining the country’s crime-fighting capacity.
He said the lack of vehicles, technology, and other operational tools was not accidental but the direct result of years of financial exposure and poor procurement practices within the service.
Minister Alexander cited a document on a « Comprehensive Assessment of Procurement Practices », which he said showed financial exposure and debt accumulation within the Police Service from 2017 to 2021.
This, he said, explains why the TTPS has struggled to acquire essential equipment, even as crime escalated.
« Mr Speaker, you will see why, sometime later, why the Police Service cannot get anything. They have a debt of $500 million. Still pending, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, while we were looking for vehicles for law enforcement, I tried to sell the artificial turf on the hockey ground, down at the barracks, to see if I could get some vehicles with that amount of money. »
He said addressing crime requires first repairing these institutional gaps, arguing that without adequate resources, policing alone cannot meet the scale of the country’s security challenges.
« In order to fix a system, you first have to treat with the system. On entry, as the Homeland Security Minister, Mr Speaker, shortage by the police, our crime, our number one crime-fighting apparatus. The police short in terms of human resources and technology, Mr Speaker. Vehicles, Mr Speaker. The prison service. All these things now I have to come and fix. Giving additional human resource, to the police service, for the prison service. How can you man a place? »
