Security guard patrol scrapped

Two days after the Community Comfort Patrol (CCP) was relaunched, National Security Minister Stuart Young cancelled it saying that the public feels safe enough without it.

In a media briefing on Wednesday, Young said after consultation with the Prime Minister, the program which was part of the National Security's proactive measure amidst the covid19 pandemic, will be cancelled.

Young said the program would have cost TT far less than it did for the pilot in 2014 under the People's Partnership.
Young said the idea was brought up to address the shortage of manpower for the police service and the Defence Force. Four private security companies - Amalgamated, Allied, Innovative Technologies and Protective Agencies were selected for the program. Young said they are the same companies selected in 2014.

In a media release on Wednesday Police Commissioner Gary Griffith said he did not reignite the CCP. Griffith was responding to a newspaper headline entitled “COP Griffith reignites 2014 CCP Initiative. The TTPS did not make such a request, nor does it have the authority and the funding for such a project."
Griffith said the initiative announced on Tuesday was a policy drafted by the Government. “The TTPS carries out Government policy and we will make the best use of any policy to ensure that criminal elements do not use this period of the COVID19 crisis to carry out their illegal acts.
"At the moment, the TTPS is responsible for carrying out the policy decisions made in the Regulations of the Public Health Ordinance to ensure that citizens adhere to what is necessary as we fight this invisible virus."

Young said the cost of the CCP would have been $87,000 per patrol for the month that the program was supposed to be used. He did not say the cost of the program for the two days it ran prior to the sudden cancellation.
During the pilot and expanded program more than 23,000 patrols were conducted with 127 significant incidents recorded. CCP mobile patrols were dispatched and co-ordinated by the National Operations Centre.