Society
Urban life - Darcus Howe sees colonial cops return
Published 17 April 2006
People in Trinidad may be angry about crime, but they didn't ask to have British police
For some time, British police have been working with police forces in the Caribbean in the pursuit of international drug smugglers and murderers. The appearance of Jamaican gangsters in London's drug trade prompted the link-up, and Operation Trident, the section of the Metropolitan Police tackling black-on-black gun crime, is in the vanguard. Now the Trinidad and Tobago authorities have gone one step further - or perhaps two steps backward.
Thirty-nine British police officers, rumoured to be retirees, are on their way to Trinidad and Tobago to join the police force there. They will be given the right of arrest and will occupy posts from superintendent right up to assistant commissioner. Their salaries, perks and allowances will run into millions of pounds. They will be ensconced at the police headquarters in Port of Spain and their task will be the modernisation of the force's work in three areas: murder, kidnapping and police corruption.
Crime of this kind appears to be out of control and the population is up in arms. Some 15,000 people recently took part in an anti-crime march and the party in power, the People's National Movement, knows it will be in difficulty at the next election if it is not seen to take action. The 39 British officers will land in the heat of this political conflict, but they are not the solution sought by the local population. Have they bitten off more than they can chew? I think so.
The local police are unlikely to be welcoming. The Police Association has already complained about the salaries to be paid to the newcomers, which are way above local rates. Several very senior officers have been compulsorily retired, and a group of 13 officers is mounting a legal challenge after they were transferred from the anti-crime and kidnapping squads to more mundane work, apparently to make space for the British team. In such a tiny place, the chances are that the ambitions of 39 local officers who hoped to be superintendents and assistant commissioners have been dashed for good.
But there is more at stake than police careers. Trinidad and Tobago celebrated its independence 44 years ago under the slogan "Massa day done", which means "the rule of the white master is over". With the arrival of British police officers, it looks as though colonialism is returning, and feelings on such matters still run deep. Thousands of people recently attended the launch of an organisation called the Black Caucus, which is dedicated to eradicating white colonialism and empowering the black and Indian population. Those people will not take the return of white law enforcement lightly.
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