Are the deportees being returned from the US facing any restrictions?
We tried to find out from acting Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin what is the role of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service in relation to the deportation exercise and what happens moving forward?
Our reporter Alicia Boucher engaged the Top Cop on the matter via a telephone interview.
00:00Can you walk me through the process in terms of whether it be registration on the TTPS's end and that kind of thing to make sure that, you know, all of the information is stored and just the overall procedure?
00:16All right. Well, I will not want to go into all the necessary details of it, but I can assure the public that one, the Toronto Legal Police Service, we have done our part in terms of getting the necessary information and data that is necessary in order for us to monitor and to know the whereabouts of persons who have come into the country, especially based on the deportation.
00:39And what we have done is that we continue to put the necessary systems in place to continue to monitor and to ensure that these persons not just come into the country, but we would want to ensure that we assist in any way possible to ensure that they become productive citizens of Toronto Legal.
01:01So we would be looking at our crime prevention and crime intervention strategies to ensure that we assist in that transformational and transitional process.
01:10What aspect of monitoring is done? Is it that sometimes they have to check into police stations? Is it that there are home visits? What are the mechanisms in place? Because I don't think like a lot of the public would know this.
01:23And I think that even to go to the extent to see what really these things would be, I think we have to be very, very careful. One, it is important to appreciate that these persons have not committed any offense in Trinidad and to be guarded and those that were detained.
01:45And therefore we have to, even though we have to, even though they have been deported, that these persons also have rights. And therefore we have to operate within the rights that they have. And therefore it is important that the police service, that we do not violate their rights. We have to be the guardian of democracy.
02:04But were deportees who committed crimes abroad, but not in TNT, have a clean record?
02:09In terms of, you would be able to get something like a COC and that kind of thing?
02:16Yes, my understanding in terms of how we deal with things, we have to appreciate when something is happening within the country against one that which is happening outside the country.
02:26And therefore, yes, if they apply for a COC, they will have a COC.
02:31And the COC basically would speak to offenses happening within the country itself.
02:37But that's why persons who are we and they apply, it's about offenses that take place within the country.
02:44The Trinidad Police Service, once we are notified of these, the offenses outside, it acts as a guide and it acts as a way of intelligence and we will deal with those things accordingly.
02:56Acting Police Commissioner Junior Benjamin stresses that it is about making sure the deportees become productive members of society.
03:03Those who seek to continue or even to break the law, they will be at zero tolerance as we continue to monitor them in this situation.
03:14As for the three deportees who were detained for prior offenses committed in TNT.
03:19So what is the process moving forward in terms of their detention?
03:23Well, those persons that were detained, again, we would ensure that the warrants and the offenses for which we were detained and that at least they appear before the courts and the courts would then determine what should be the next course of action in relation to that.
03:43And on a closing note.
03:46The Trinidad Police Service continues to provide safety and security for all.
03:52As I said, we are the commissioner of police for all and therefore it means that even persons who come into the country, deportees, we must ensure that whatever we do, it's beyond showing, we must not show any biases,
04:06but we must treat them as citizens of this country and we would really want persons to really treat them as such and let them know that, you know, they can come back and make a positive contribution to China to the world.
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