Newly trained security officers are at the mercy of criminals because they cannot get Firearm Users Employee Certificates from the TTPS which allow them to carry firearms, says Chief executive officer of Air Support Tactical Security Services Ltd Dirk Barnes.
He was speaking following the murder of Andy Hosein, who was shot dead on High Street, San Fernando, during a heist at Ketan Jewellers on Saturday.
Barnes, who is also a retired Major with the T&T Defence Force, said, “We going on six months that we can’t promote officers or hire new ones as precept officers. Security providers cannot get firearm users licenses for newly recruited estate constables because the supplemental unit has been shut down by the T&T Police Service since August last year.”
He added, “Business owners are now resorting to using anybody, especially untrained people to act as watchmen in high-risk areas.”
Noting that all officers who are to be armed must be precepted and be granted a Firearms Users Employee Certificate (FUEC), Barnes said, “Since August last year, the supplemental department that was co-located with the Firearms department has not been able to continue processing precepts (an activity that has little to do with the so-called audit) and as such we have not been able to get more officers into the industry.”
With the FUL department closed, security providers could not get FUECs for new officers “so new jobs cannot be undertaken with firearm officers,” Barnes explained.
“You should ask the acting Commissioner of Police why has he frozen the security providers ability to deploy new officers. What is his justification for closing the supplemental unit?” he added.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer at Heller Security Services Dwight Williams said security companies must ensure there is training,re-training and situation awareness.
“Some companies have a policy that once the officer completes his or her basic training, no further training is done to provide the officer with the adequate skills, knowledge and competence,” he said.
Speaking about the lack of police patrols on High Street at the time of Hosein’s murder, Williams said, “It is obvious that the morale of the men and women of the TTPS has broken down based on the trauma of the past couple of months. Criminals are now emboldened by the fact that they feel that they can get away with committing criminal acts without being caught.”
Over the weekend, Deputy Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob said patrols were scarce because 22 officers from the San Fernando Police Station were in quarantine.
Efforts to contact Jacob and Deputy Commissioner Christopher as to why the FUEC’s are not being granted have gone unanswered.
