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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