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Top Cop defends sending officers on leave during upsurge in crime

Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher has defended her decision to send senior officers on vacation leave amid the current upsurge in crime across the country, and given assurances that the crime fight won’t be hindered as a result.
Yesterday, a memo to Superintendent Roger Alexander informing him of approved 763 days leave was circulated on social media.

There were concerns raised by some other officers as well as members of the public.However, in a media release this morning CoP Harewood-Christopher said one of the constitutional mandates of the Commissioner of Police is the effective management of the resources assigned to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, which includes “the very valuable, human resources”.She explained this mandate creates “an inevitable conflict between the demand for services and the need for the effective deployment of often limited resources, which necessitates very deliberate and careful management in order to achieve a healthy balance between these objectives, while pursuing maximum results.”

“This scenario is very apparent in the current situation where the TTPS is challenged to battle an undesirably high incidence of crime while having to maintain an adequate, competent and effective complement of its human resource on a sustained and protracted basis,” she said.The Police Commissioner observed: “Simultaneously, the organisation is in an untenable situation of having many officers working continuously over very extended periods with excessively high vacation leave entitlements, which in many cases is in excess of two—and some cases—three years.

Sangre Grande man critical after being shot at home

A 44-year-old man is now in critical condition after being shot at his Sangre Grande home on Wednesday night.

Police said the man was with his wife at his Siri Trace, Foster Road, Sangre Grande, home at around 7:30 pm, when he heard someone calling his name.

He looked through a window to see who called him, and was shot several times.

One dead, three wounded after Cocorite shooting

A shooting in Cocorite on Wednesday night left one man dead and three others injured.

Police said Steffen Belgrave and others were liming at Jeffers Lane, Cocorite, at 10.56 pm when a car drove up to them.

Several men got out of the car and shot at the limers several times before getting back in the car and driving off.

Officers of the Western Division Task Force were called in and took the three wounded men to hospital.

A district medical officer visited the scene and declared Belgrave dead.

Cops—5 of 7 people killed in Belmont, Arima murders were ‘collateral damage’

The shooting that led to the murders of four men in Belmont on Sunday night is believed to be part of ongoing gang warfare between rival factions in Belmont and St Paul Street, police say.
The four men, Brandon Forde, 23, Brian Padmore, 26, Chivon Clarke, 27, and Kerron Moore, 30, were at the corner of Smart Place and Belmont Circular Road after 10 pm when a dark SUV drove up to them.
Five gunmen got out the SUV and shot the men before getting back in the vehicle and escaping.

Investigators yesterday said thus far, no one has been arrested in relation to the murders, but they were pursuing several angles in their investigation.
An officer said one angle was the possibility of warfare between gangs. The officer said only one of the men in the group may have been the intended target of the killers, with the remaining three victims being “collateral damage.”

Police said security camera footage was being viewed but noted “it was not helpful”, as the killers all wore masks.

Busy googling...expect something about Canada shortly.

Matura security guard killed a month after being shot at

One month after he survived a shooting, a 39-year-old security guard was shot and killed at his Matura home, on Tuesday night.

Police said Sherwin Julien and a female relative were about to open the front door of their Carib Road, Matura, home at around 6:55 pm, when they heard gunshots.

The relative noticed Julien bleeding from the upper part of his left arm and the left side of his stomach.

She took him to the Sangre Grande General Hospital where he was declared dead at around 9:32 pm that night.