T&T Po­lice Ser­vice So­cial and Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion (TTPSS­WA) pres­i­dent, ASP Ish­mael Pitt, says ad­di­tion­al po­lice of­fi­cers would fur­ther bol­ster the strength and ef­fi­cien­cies of the po­lice in crime-fight­ing goals, as he ap­proved of re­cent plans aimed at in­creas­ing man­pow­er with­in the ranks of the ser­vice.

Dur­ing a state­ment to Par­lia­ment last Fri­day, Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Roger Alexan­der re­port­ed that the sanc­tioned strength of po­lice would be in­creased from 7,884 to 10,200 of­fi­cers.

Alexan­der said the ex­pan­sion of the po­lice ser­vice’s man­pow­er would be done on a phased, five-year re­cruit­ment pro­gramme, with 600 of­fi­cers in the first year, an­oth­er 600 of­fi­cers in the sec­ond year and 372 of­fi­cers in the third, fourth and fifth years.