Regional security consultant Dr Garvin Heerah has warned that staffing constraints within the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions pose a serious risk to both national security and the justice system, particularly as Trinidad and Tobago prepares to roll out additional criminal courts aimed at easing the backlog of cases.

Yesterday, the Sunday Express reported that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said it was unable to assign prosecutors to additional criminal courts due to severe staffing shortages, despite the judiciary’s expansion of the High Court’s Criminal Division to tackle a growing backlog of cases.

In a letter dated April 30 to acting Registrar of the Supreme Court Kimberly Prescott, Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, said the Office did not have the prosecutorial capacity to support three or four additional High Court judges expected to begin hearing backlog matters from early May.