Alexander on body cameras available to TTPS: ‘We will work with what we have’

Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Roger Alexan­der says the Gov­ern­ment will have to make do with the body cam­eras cur­rent­ly avail­able to the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS), as con­cerns grow over whether there are enough func­tion­ing de­vices and whether their use will be manda­to­ry dur­ing op­er­a­tions un­der the pro­posed Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill.

The bill will per­mit po­lice of­fi­cers, as­sist­ed by mem­bers of the De­fence Force, to con­duct spe­cial op­er­a­tions in ar­eas de­clared closed. Of­fi­cers in­volved in those op­er­a­tions are ex­pect­ed to wear body cam­eras, Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar had de­clared on Wednes­day.

How­ev­er, the leg­is­la­tion stops short of mak­ing their use manda­to­ry. In­stead, it states that body cam­eras should be used as far as prac­ti­ca­ble, sub­ject to avail­able re­sources.