Acting Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin has said the threat that led to the government calling the state of emergency (SoE) in December has been averted.

He said this was due to the work of the police service during the 103-day SoE.

The SoE was called on December 30. The Commissioner of Police at the time was Erla Harewood-Christopher and the Minister of National Security was Fitzgerald Hinds. The commissioner and minister made the announcement to the public along with then acting Attorney General Stuart Young.

The SoE ended at midnight on April 13. This meant the emergency powers given to the Minister of National Security and the police to detain people suspected of being involved in criminal or gang activity are no longer applicable.

The end of the SoE also saw scores of detainees being released, while Benjamin confirmed on April 13 that ten held under the emergency powers regulations were charged.

He said while police believe the threat was nullified, they will continue to work on keeping a grip on crime.

“There will always be the lingering presence of people who would want to threaten the security of TT, but because of the strategies that we have put in place during the SoE, we have been able to foil these plans.

“The threat has been averted, but we are very much cautious, and we will continue to operate as though the threat exists.

“If we give them the opportunity, the gangs will come back in full force. So we are continuing to be very diligent and vigilant in what we are doing, and we are going to be even more meticulous in what we are going to be doing in terms of our operations.”

In a phone interview, National Security Minister Marvin Gonzales assured the nation that the police and other arms of national security are working hand in hand to ensure that crime and criminality stay down.

“Law enforcement agencies are very much aware of the possibility of a spike in criminal activities as we come out of the SoE. That is why we have pledged to continue collaboration to monitor what is taking place and to ramp up the operations of the TTPS.

“We are speaking to our lawyers, we are looking at the legal framework we now have to operate, and we will use all the avenues available to ensure that we continue to support heightened police operations and visibility in TT.”

More robust policing promised

Addressing concerns of a spike in crime after the SoE ends, Benjamin said the police and other security agencies were anticipating the possibility.

“This is something we anticipated,” Benjamin said. “We knew that the SoE would not last forever, so from the very beginning we were working toward that, to ensure that after the SoE we would have been in a more advanced and prepared state.”

“Some people, I think, are waiting to see if we will stop. We are not going to stop, we are going to intensify. You are going to see a more robust approach.”

“We have anticipated what is about to happen, and we have put things in place. It is going to be a new normal and not the normal normal.”

Benjami