SRPs vs TTPS?

THE rowdy meeting between members of the corps of special reserve police (SRP) officers and the management of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) offered warning of the challenges the service faces in meeting the mandate by Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander to absorb 800 SRPs into the service.

The December 3 meeting got off to a shaky start after a comment from an SRP officer caused senior TTPS officers to order the SRP officer to stop speaking and for the mic to be switched off.

The clumsy comment was underlined by the consternation that met the requirement that incoming officers have a CSEC pass in English Language.

ACP Curt Simon tried to restore order, reminding the assembled SRPs that, "The TTPS is not a market or a parlour."

Reminded that being selected for TTPS service was not a right, several SRPs then walked out of the meeting.

SRPs have long been fighting to improve their status in the police service. It wasn't until July, after a ruling by Justice Frank Seepersad, that SRPs and municipal police were allowed to vote in police association elections.

The issues that divide working officers and SRPs are deep-seated.

In 2019, SRPs called on then police commissioner Gary Griffith to address late payment of their salaries, claiming that they felt like "outside children."

Mr Alexander's mandate to address a shortfall of 1,154 officers is largest planned movement in status for SRPs since 2019, when a target number of 500 SRPs were expected to become full fledged police officers.

After the meeting fracas, DCP Junior Benjamin was at pains to assure Newsday that the service is committed to honouring the intent of the cabinet note.

But in doing so, Mr Benjamin must also consider the impact that potentially unqualified or unready officers exalted to full TTPS duty might have on the police service as well as the public it is sworn to serve.

SRPs are supposed to have the same academic qualifications as police officers, but the resistance to an English Language requirement suggests that acceptance to the reserves is significantly more flexible than it is for the service.

Mr Alexander may know SRPs who would make great police officers, but it's doubtful that he knows 800 of them.

The senior brass at the TTPS are right to insist on the highest possible standards for SRPs being considered for elevation to the police service, but a fair and transparent assessment of the capacity of the reserve officers under consideration, with options for appropriate remedial coaching, should be part of any procedure meant to elevate the quality of policing.

Reserves who indicate an interest in being called to full TTPS service should be identified and prepared for possible absorption from their first day on the job.

SRPs in the field are often called on to do the work of regular officers and a sensible, functional standard for their abilities should be met by all officers called to duty.