Benchmark for Tobago policing

The police service announced on March 6 that for the last four months, there were no reports of serious crimes committed against what it said were almost 90,000 cruise ship visitors to Tobago during those months.

The Tourism-Oriented Policing Section (TOPS) of the police Tobago Division was saluted for having exercised successful oversight of the passengers who disembarked at Charlotteville and Scarborough from 49 cruise ships during the last four months.

These short-stay visitors, most ashore for 12 hours or less, visited a full range of Tobago’s tourism attractions under the watchful eyes of TOPS officers who provided protection using foot patrols, vehicles and e-bikes.

The police described the exercise as having delivered a “blueprint” of safety and pre-emptive measures that ensured seamless movement from ship to visitor sites.

For Tobagonians themselves, though, the picture may look different. In 2018, Stuart Young, then National Security Minister, described the rise in crime there as “frightening.”

Tobago recorded ten murders in 2022, which crime economist Anslem Richards believed the island could not afford, having a much smaller population than Trinidad. Tobago’s population, last counted in 2011, is likely to be fewer than 70,000, almost the same number of people as Chaguanas.

Promising a more robust approach in Tobago, the Police Commissioner said last year that Les Coteaux was home ground for almost 70 per cent of criminals operating on the island.

By the end of 2023, former ACP for Tobago William Nurse was calling for a modified approach to crime-fighting.

Mr Nurse believed there were at least 20 gangs active on the island, but was also confident that because Tobago is a small community, and with its accommodating people, street-level policing should be more effective.

He warned, however, that the police detachment is small, with limited access to specialised support units.

Tobago would seem to demand a different policing approach to anything being done in Trinidad, one that reflects the differences in community life, as well as acknowledging the reality that the open ports between our two islands make Tobago particularly vulnerable to the movement of illegal weapons.

The TOPS example suggests an approach that might be amplified.

Identify the specifics of the crime problem, deploy manpower and equipment appropriately to manage it and encourage consistency of effort among the forces tasked with protection.

Developing a more relevant blueprint for policing Tobago, using strategy informed by deeper and more accurate intelligence about the profile of criminal activity there, seems a sensible first step in protecting the island’s close-knit population.

Executing it effectively and consistently, while continuously reviewing the approach based on new information, might bring some overdue pressure on the criminals demonstrably keen to terrorise Tobagonians.