The Environmental Management Authority is taking the TTPS and the Regional Corporations to task over noise pollution issues, especially during the carnival season. Meantime the TTPS is advising members of the public, to lodge complaints with the police. Rynessa Cutting has more.
00:00Noise pollution. It's a problem which affects hundreds across the country year-round, but more so during the carnival season.
00:08And while many are wont to point fingers at the Environmental Management Authority,
00:13the EMA is addressing the problem at its core, calling out the regional corporations and the TDPS.
00:20They have to get approval for a bar license, and that goes through a process at the magistrate's court.
00:31And therefore, the magistrates and the police need to ensure, before granting any license,
00:42that the establishment is in an area that is conducive to such activities.
00:52They cannot be allowing bars in areas that are primarily residential.
01:01The authority says patrons are not allowed to be on sidewalks, and music should not be loud enough to shake anyone's homes.
01:08If these establishments are properly established, and they take the right precautions,
01:16and they are playing music for their customers, and the music is within the establishment,
01:26you might hear the music on the sidewalk.
01:29The challenge is that these people decide that they want to play music not only for their customers and their establishment,
01:37they want to put the speakers on the sidewalk, and they want to be playing music for the whole village,
01:44and for everybody else on the road.
01:47That is unacceptable.
01:49And that's where the regional corporations come in.
01:52And the police, they need to start patrolling and telling people that they have no authority to be on the sidewalk.
01:59The EMA says it received over 500 noise complaints over the last three years.
02:05In 2022, when we came out of COVID, there were 246 noise complaints.
02:15In 2023, that reduced to 155 complaints.
02:21And in 2024, it went up again.
02:25Well, it was around the same amount in 2024. It was 152 complaints.
02:31But the authority says it does monitor noise levels at some events, for which permits are granted, and fine promoters accordingly.
02:39We can't do it all the time because the strength of our environmental police unit is just 11 officers in Trinidad and two or three officers in Tobago.
02:53So therefore, I mean, we cannot be at all the events, especially in a year like 2025, with a long carnival season, where there might be over 300 or 400 events.
03:05Meantime, the TTPS says it is meeting with carnival stakeholders on the matter,
03:10and they're inviting members of the public to call the police if they encounter noise issues.
03:15Having spoken to some of the stakeholders as well as some of the residents of the particular areas where carnival takes place,
03:21they complained about that to us as well.
03:23And we haven't spoken to the band leaders thus far.
03:26I have also told them about the decibel level.
03:29They are quite aware of it, as well as even the testing of these musical equipment just before juve starts.
03:36And we told them that there's a particular area that has been designated for that type of activities.
03:40And we hope that they would comply with them.
03:42As it relates to the other events that may be taking place in these areas,
03:48if they make a report to the police, we expect that TTPS officers would respond,
03:51at least go and speak with the promoters or even the DJ to have them turn on the music.
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