Acting Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin is promising to rebuild trust within the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and ensure that after the state of emergency (SoE), the country will be safe.
Benjamin received his instrument of appointment at the Police Service Commission’s office off Pasea Main Road, Tunapuna, yesterday.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives unanimously approved the nominations of Benjamin as acting Commissioner and Curt Simon as acting Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Simon also received his instrument of appointment from the PolSC yesterday.
Speaking with reporters as they left the building, Benjamin first thanked God for being allowed to act in the position as the country’s top cop.
However, he acknowledged that the timing was troublesome, saying:
“We want to take the opportunity to reassure T&T at this time of our total commitment to ensure that we seek to rebuild that trust within the TTPS. We recognise that the TTPS has gone through a tough time and continues to go through a tough time, but we are now entering a time of healing.
“There are officers and leaders who are very much able to make a difference. And therefore, we want to see how we can make a difference to help our officers and build their morale in the midst of the challenges that we face.
“We are seeking to have our senior officers work with us so we can really praise our officers for the hard work that they do. We want to ensure that we go out there and even look at ways we can assist, in terms of facilities…We want to ensure…training and equipment…All these things must be apparent and above board…”
Making T&T safe
Benajmin also wants to prioritise crime-fighting strategies:
“We want to ensure we have a robust strategy to reduce crime—and that must be something that must be a priority at this time; and therefore we will be looking at those strategies, and ensuring that even after the (SoE) that we have something sustainable (so) that T&T will once again be safe,” he said.
He told reporters that his first order of business would be to sit down with the heads of all ten policing divisions and ensure that there is a strategic plan in place to ensure that the organisation will “fulfil its purpose”.
“So I will be looking at that throughout my journey, especially this year…to ensure that at the end of this year… our performance is one that T&T is proud about,” Benjamin told reporters.
Simon echoed the sentiments of the acting commissioner.
“The efforts must be, as he has indicated ,to rebuild that trust and confidence, and that the public of T&T must also see the trust and confidence. So the work is cut out, given recent events. We are not going to say that it’s an easy job. But I think it’s a task we are up to. The executives of the TTPS are ready to run with the leadership, whether temporary or otherwise,” Simon said.
