ONLY 180 body cameras were available to police officers for Carnival 2026 because they were the only devices currently operational after the Police Service halted a multimillion-dollar licensing contract that rendered hundreds of cameras unusable.

Speaking at a news conference at Police Administration Building in Port of Spain yesterday, Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro explained that while the Service had previously acquired far more devices, they were tied to an expensive international licensing and maintenance arrangement. When that contract was stopped, the licensing expired—leaving the majority of the cameras unusable, he explained.

He said the original procurement, under a former commissioner whom he did not name, involved 1,000 body cameras—750 initially, followed by another 250—at a cost of $3.4 million, plus an additional $600,000 for a Bluetooth feature, bringing the initial expenditure to approximately $4 million.