Cops to get Tasers, pepper spray by month’s end

Members of the TT Police Service's Emergency Response Unit will begin training next week in the use of Tasers and pepper spray, Police Commission Gary Grifith said today.

The training is expected to be completed by month’s end and the 600 selected officers will be assigned specially designed belts to hold pepper spray, a Taser, batons, a firearm and handcuffs.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert, in the 2019 budget, said the Government had agreed to purchase the belts.

When he was national security minister Griffith had strongly recommended the use of non-lethal weapons, including pepper spray and Tasers.

Griffith said, “I have seen Tasers, tested them and the next course of action is to make a selection and order but we are going to start training on how to use them. Depending on the escalation of threats, officers will utilise the items on the belt to minimise and subdue threats."