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  • 11 months ago

Twenty-nine new transit police officers graduated into the police force today, a small percentage of the two thousand plus applicants for the job. And while they are tasked with enforcing and maintaining law and order in defined transportation sectors, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds reminded them to be mindful of not using more force than is required. Rynessa Cutting reports.

Transcript
00:00Twenty-two constables and seven corporals have been added to the strength of the Transit
00:05Police Unit, and National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hines is urging the recruits not
00:11to forget their training in the line of duty, particularly with respect to the use of force
00:16policy.
00:17You have to be able to graduate up the level of necessity.
00:23If the thing requires gentle moral suasion, that's what is required.
00:28If it requires a little sterner talk, that's what is required.
00:32If it requires me putting my hand on you and saying you are under arrest, that is what
00:37is required.
00:38And if you resist and it is required that I use my taser instrument or my handcuffs,
00:47that is what is required.
00:48That's what the court expects.
00:50Minister Hines also stressed the importance of customer service and knowing how to treat
00:56with special demographics.
00:58Society doesn't know a child cannot now be placed in a marked police vehicle.
01:06There's a whole package of children's law that now treats children very differently,
01:13mentally deranged or disturbed persons.
01:19So an understanding of all of this in the context of even prisoner care is very important.
01:26Just last week, police opened fire on a homeless man who was throwing stones at people just
01:31off Wrighton Road.
01:33At least one of the bullets hit a passing car transporting four children.
01:38The occupants escaped without injury.
01:41In October, police shot and killed a mentally challenged man in Prince's Town after he lunged
01:46at a police officer despite being warned to stand down.
01:51And in May, police shot and killed a mentally ill man who was throwing bricks at passing
01:56cars in Barakpo after he tried to attack the officers with a cutlass.
02:02Investigations have been launched into these incidents.
02:05And while transit police operations are reserved to defined transportation sectors, the national
02:11security minister took the opportunity to remind the recruits that their job is still
02:16high risk.
02:17When the ordinary citizen is well asleep two and three in the morning, you are out there
02:22dealing with a drunken driver, the man armed with an illegal firearm.
02:29I spent three days working with some police out in Washington sometime ago as part of
02:34my own observation and development.
02:37And they tell you that the most dangerous and sensitive aspect of their work is when
02:43they stop a car on the streets.
02:45You don't know what is coming.
02:48You don't know who is in there, you don't know what sort of reaction you could get.
02:52Tough business requiring courage.
02:55Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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