UNC leader proposes splitting National Security Ministry

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the National Security Ministry will be split into two Ministries, Home Affairs and Defence, should the party win the upcoming general elections.

She said the Home Affairs Ministry would encompass the internal security of Trinidad and Tobago and focus on crime deterrence, crime prevention and the judicial system. Some of the agencies to be included in this ministry would include the TTPS, TT Fire Service, TT Prison Service, cadets, the ODPM, and E99, among others. She said those agencies would carry out the functions of policing, surveillance, intelligence gathering, maintenance of law and order, security, etc.

Persad-Bissessar said the Ministry of Defence would protect the borders of TT from drug and weapons trafficking, human trafficking and terrorism. She said that was needed due to new threats in border protection. Agencies to be included in that ministry would be the Defence Force, Coast Guard, Air Guard, reserves, Immigration and Customs, anti-terrorist units, and the trans-national organised crime unit, among others.

Persad-Bissessar said changes would also be made to the recruitment process of the TTPS, with recruits being required to possess at least a diploma in policing. She said degrees and diplomas in policing would be developed by the UNC and offered at UWI’s Debe/Penal Campus.

The Opposition Leader was speaking during the UNC’s virtual On The Ballot campaign platform on Thursday evening.