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THE Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) has confirmed that 98 Preventative Detention Orders (PDOs) have been executed since the start of the ongoing state of emergency (SoE), as law enforcement continues to use the measure to prevent threats to public safety.

Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro said the TTPS currently holds 156 PDOs, with 98 executed and 58 still outstanding. He explained that the orders are not criminal charges but administrative actions under the Emergency Powers Regulations aimed at pre-empting acts that could endanger the public.

“The TTPS has 156 Preventative Detention Orders that we have in our possession, out of which we have executed 98 thus far. So we have 58 outstanding,” Guevarro said. “A PDO is specifically as it says, a Preventative Detention Order. It is an order to prevent someone from doing something that is harmful to public safety. It doesn’t mean that they committed a crime. It means that there was sufficient evidence placed to grant a PDO to place this person in detention for the purpose of preventing them from doing something,” he said while speaking at a TTPS news conference at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain yesterday.