Caption: The TTPS band begins its march at the Batch One 2025 Passing Out Ceremony on Monday at the Police Academy, St James. AZP News/Alicia Chamely
By Alicia Chamely
MORE good officers are needed as the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) fights back against criminal forces and a once broken system.
Delivering the feature address at Monday’s TTPS Passing Out Ceremony for Batch One 2025 at the Police Academy, St James, Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander said, “The country does not need more officers, it needs good officers.”
He said, “We need officers who choose integrity over temptation, officers who choose discipline over ego and officers who choose service over short-cuts because if you want respect, earn it, and if you want trust, build it, and if you want honour, then live it.”
Speaking directly to the 125 graduates, he said, “Every decision you make big or small shapes the reputation of the police service. Carry yourself with pride as uniforms mean nothing if character is weak.”
“Be the officer who treats people with dignity-even when in handcuffs, as we move Trinidad and Tobago from a position of fear to safety,” he added.
Acknowledging past difficulties for the TTPS and its crime fighting mechanism, he said with recent initiatives and developments, the new officers were stepping into a newly invigorated TTPS that was seeing results.
He noted the drop in murders (Jan-Sept 2025: 271 reported murders vs. Jan-Sept 2025: 625 reported murders – statistics via TTPS) was a sign the “tide was turning.”
Alexander said to the graduates, “You are not joining a broken system. You are joining a system that is fighting back and winning ground.”
He stressed, “We, however, are still in a fight. We are in a fight that we cannot afford to lose and while crime is trying to intimidate and test us, it will not rule our streets. Not under my watch as Minister of Homeland Security, as they will not win.”
Speaking with the media after the ceremony, Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro said there was not only a drop in murders but also a significant increase in detection rates.
Guevarro said, “What I want to point out to you is we have seen a drop in the homicides, but we have also seen a rise in the detection rates.”
He said, “So, the homicide department, under the stewardship of Senior Superintendent Belford, is doing a magnificent job in the investigations of homicide to bring closure.”
Guevarro noted homicide investigations were complex and could drag on for years. He said however what was being seen was increased detection and closure of not only recent homicides but ones from previous years, for which he was very satisfied.
