Duke: No to THA police unit

POLITICAL leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) Watson Duke is saying "no," to Chief Secretary Farley Augustine's proposal of a THA police unit working out of the Office of the Chief Secretary.

Instead, the electoral representative for Roxborough/Argyle is calling for a Department of Tobago Homeland Security, whose agents would be primarily responsibly for collecting data and  act as a support to police investigations.

According to website Wikipedia, the most widely known Department of Homeland Security – in the US – is that country's federal executive department responsible for public security. It is roughly comparable to a ministry of the interior in other countries.

Speaking with reporters on May 17, Augustine announced the establishment of a THA police unit as part of a broader Department of Public Safety, to work alongside the police in trying to arrest the island's worsening violent crime situation. To date, Tobago has seen ten murders for this year – three short of the record of 13 murders which was set in 2023.

At a press conference on May 20, at the PDP's Scarborough headquarters, Duke said the police must be commended for the work they are doing.

“Stop blaming the police for everything. There are bad workers everywhere in the world and there are good workers. We have some of the best servicemen and women in this country, people who work extremely hard under poor conditions and with limited resources to get the job done.

"I am saluting police officers today for the fantastic job they have been doing.

"Obviously you are going to win some days, some days you are going to lose, because the criminals out there are very smart now, they are very advanced and are using sophisticated methodologies to commit crimes.”

On the proposed THA police unit, Augustine said its establishment "is pretty advanced.” He said all the necessary feasibility work had been done in terms of designing the structure and the infrastructure that would be related to the Department of Public Safety.

He said the THA is now approaching the point where it was ready to roll out this department.

But on May 20, Duke said, “Avoid creating a Tobago police (unit) that is placed under you...it will not work. Do not do it, it will not work. Leave policing out.

"As a matter of fact, I would be very careful not to call any ad-hoc group a Tobago police unit because it gives policing a retarded look.

"Unless police are properly equipped, unless they are guided by statutes, they have laws, what you are creating there is an ad-hoc, retarded group that would create more problems than solve issues.”

Duke said the word "police" is a very serious one as police, be it estate police or TTPS  have two things in common – the power to deprive people of their liberty and freedom by arrest, and the power to bear and discharge firearms.

“This THA police unit, under which act will they fall...? We have to be careful selling people dreams.

"This is why I recommend a department that does not bear arms, a department that doesn’t have the powers of arrest, and a department that deals with monitoring and evaluation, assessment of data and which will work within the remit of the TTPS, mainly as a support to supply police with information. You can call that department Tobago Homeland Security – a less offensive word.”

He said this department would make “much more sense.”

“Since we have a department called Health and Social Services, we should utilise that division and place underneath it the Tobago Homeland Security Department, which would operate without arms and without powers of arrest. We want to be your friendly neighbourhood personnel that collects data.”