HOMELAND Security Minister Roger Alexander said the Transit Police Unit was allowed to “deteriorate” over the past nine years, leaving the division operating with a skeleton staff and short by at least 60 officers.

Alexander was responding to a question from opposition MP Marvin Gonzales during the 12th sitting of the House of Representatives on November 21. His question came after a robbery of a Route 2 maxi taxi driver by a group of masked men in Arouca on November 19.

Alexander said a superintendent director has since been appointed, and reconstruction of the Transit Police has begun. However, Alexander declined to reveal the government’s planned security strategies.