Community Policing In Trinidad And Tobago

Amidst increasing cries of police brutality and excessive use of force in Trinidad and Tobago, numerous initiatives have been utilized to harness a collaborative relationship between the police and members of the public in an effort to combat crime. Community policing is one of the many initiatives used by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Force, to foster a partnership between the police and members of the public in the fight against crime. Research indicates that the success of community policing in Trinidad and Tobago was limited for various reasons, one of which was the fact that members of the public were not adequately informed about the initiative. Studies conducted by Deosaran 2001 and Pino 2009 revealed that at least 75 percent of the persons in the study had no knowledge of what was community policing. It could therefore be seen that the success or Lack there off, of initiatives aimed at fostering a collaborative relationship between the police and the public is hinged upon public awareness. Therefore members of the public must be adequately informed about such initiatives, for example they should know what the program is about, what it hopes to achieve and how it would be implemented, if they are to embrace such initiatives.

In the community of laventille efforts will be made to ensure that members of the community are sufficiently educated about programs aimed at forging a partnership between community members and the police. Meetings will be held regularly with members of the community educating them on the relevant approaches outlined to work with the police in the fight against crime, if for example a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Designed (CEPTED) program is proposed, the community members will be educated...

... middle of paper ...

...eing bad. Doesaran 2001 contend that Trinidad and Tobago’s public’s confidence in the police is low, due to excessive reports of police brutality and corruption. As a consequence members of the public are very apprehensive to work with the police to solve major crimes(Pino and Johnson, 2010).

Additionally in high crime areas such as Laventille members of the community may be fearful of working with the police, as police officials are often perceived as being incapable of protecting civilians from notorious criminals, who has the potential to retaliate against informants (Pino and Johnson 2010). The police is often viewed as being affiliated with criminal elements, therefore members of the community of Laventille may be reluctant to report incidents of crime committed, due to fear that the police might tip of criminal offenders. (Pino and Johnson 2010).