I crave your indulgence to report this boiling issue of construction of a police post in Port-of-Spain.
Former police commissioner of police, Gary Griffith went on a rampage during his leadership of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and closed several police stations, principally in rural TT.
One of these is the abrupt closure of the Brasso Police Station which served the Caparo, Tabaquite, Mamoral, Flanagin Town, Chickland Road, Carr Trace among several hamlets, which remain principally agricultural communities.
Residents of these areas have to travel some 15 miles from Caparo to make a report to the Grand Couva Police Station, because the TSTT phones most of the times are not functional, either through mechanical or the lack of payment of the phone bill.
The closure of the Brasso Police Station hit the heart and soul of these communities and residents, and its closure has left an indelible scar.
Crimes and criminal activities have now become the hallmark of these communities, and something moe aggressive must be undertaken, before the area becomes a nest for crimes.
The Minister of National Security took an oath of silence when Gary Griffith went on his rampage.
Mr Editor, the rural communities are living in deep fear, and I humbly ask that the new Commissioner of Police comes on stream, sooner than later, he re-examines this faulty decision.
Maybe, the Camille Robinson-Regis Committee looking at the status of our national shrines, archives, statutes, etc should also consider the importance of national security as it relates to police stations.
I do not think, and I am sure the national community would venture to support this move.
A call to revisit the construction of a police post in Poet-of-Spain is undeniably a waste of scarce resources. That $15 million costing could be deliberately used to effect serious, major road improvement on the Brasso Caparo Valley Road, from Longdenville to Tabaquite.
PARAS RAMOUTAR
CAPARO