Heavy police presence on roads, beaches for Easter weekend

There will be a heavy police presence on Trinidad and Tobago's roads for the Easter weekend, with special emphasis on the coastal regions, said a senior police officer in the Traffic and Highway Patrol Unit.

Speaking with Newsday after a ceremony, commanding officer of the unit Snr Supt Wayne Mystar said his team will begin a series of exercises from Thursday night until Tuesday morning to clamp down on errant drivers.

He said the unit would also be sending officers to assist divisional police units with road blocks and warned the public to avoid driving under the influence of alcohol and to obey the law.

"What we noticed is speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol –, those things are heightened over holiday weekends like Easter weekend, so our officers will be out in their numbers.

"Our jurisdiction is mainly the highways and roads, but we will be paying close attention to a lot of activities both day and night: speed exercises; our officers with breathalysers will be out.

"We are also lending support to members of different police divisions, for instance the Maracas beach is in North Eastern Division, (so) we have police motorcyclists going up there to lend assistance and also to the Western Division, where there is Chaguaramas and Carenage. So all the divisions where there are coastlines and beaches we will have officers there."

Newsday also spoke to police road safety co-ordinator Sgt Brent Batson, who said officers would also be ensuring public health measures are obeyed. He implored the public to obey the law and do their part to be road safe.

"We will be enforcing traffic laws, but we will also be looking out for the covid19 regulations...everything from physical distancing as well as wearing masks.

"We also want to mention, having seen the different accidents over the past week, we also want to remind people how preventable they are. We want everyone to enjoy the Easter holiday and be safe out there."