Hundreds apply to be municipal police

YVONNE WEBB

In keeping with the mandate of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to increase the strength of police officers employed at municipal corporations to 100, hundreds of people turned up at City Hall, San Fernando, yesterday morning hoping to be recruited.

The recruitment drive was led by the Statutory Authority Service Commission (SASC), which is charged with filling the shortfall of some 1,107 officers. On completion of the process, they will be deployed to the Port of Spain, San Fernando, Arima and Point Fortin corporations.

A similar drive took place in February 2017. Interviews for that batch were done in December and applicants are now undergoing medical and psychological testing.

Snr Supt of the Municipal Police Carlyle Huggins said he was overwhelmed by the number of people, both men and women, who responded, but happy so many wanted to join the service.

He said those who wanted to become municipal police should have five or more CXC passes, including English language, and be of a certain height and between the ages of 18 and 35.

Pointing out that quite a few people turned up with a learner driver’s permit as a form of identification, Huggins said those were rejected.

“We are not accepting learner’s permit. You must have a legitimate driving permit,” he said.

He also warned potential recruits that having visible tattoos could result in their being rejected. Insp Martin, who is attached to the San Fernando City Corporation, explained that whilst tattoos are acceptable, they must not be visible while wearing the regulation uniform.

Martin said those who met the requirements and were unable to get through the process in San Fernando still had an opportunity to apply, as there will be three other recruitment drives later this month. These are scheduled to take place at the Arima Borough Corporation on January 20,City Hall, Port of Spain, on January 23 and the Point Fortin Borough Corporation on January 27.

Huggins said once a candidate possessed the academic qualifications that person would go through medical, physical, psychological and possibly polygraph testing.