00:00The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service defended its response to recent protests across the country last week,
00:06insisting that officers acted based on intelligence, risk assessments, and legal requirements,
00:12rather than the identities of protest organizers.
00:16Speaking this morning during a media briefing at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain,
00:22ASP Ashley Mongrew responded to concerns that police had treated some demonstrations differently than others.
00:30Mongrew said members of the public were often unaware of intelligence available to the police when operational decisions were made.
00:38It might be difficult for the police to really come out and say everything that we have to be able
00:44to combat it with what we expect to happen.
00:47He said information received by police suggested that some individuals were seeking to associate themselves with ongoing protest actions
00:55and that investigators had to take such intelligence into account.
01:00According to Mongrew, some of the information available to police pointed to the possibility of serious public disorder.
01:08Also, you would appreciate that there are persons who are attempting to take the limelight or share the limelight with
01:15persons who are involved in those actions.
01:18And that information coming to hand lends to a propensity for serious public disorder.
01:24Mongrew also reminded the public that Trinidad and Tobago remained under a state of emergency
01:29and said policing arrangements during this period would differ from national normal operations.
01:37We are in a state of emergency.
01:39The rules will be different during the state of emergency.
01:42The senior officer urged organizers planning public meetings or marches to comply with legal requirements by notifying the police in
01:52advance.
01:53He explained that police needed information such as the location of an event, the expected number of participants,
02:01and the proposed time of the gathering in order to prepare an appropriate response.
02:06When you identify the number of persons, where it's going to be held, the time in which it's going to
02:11be held,
02:12these are things that the police need to respond to.
02:14And the only way we can respond properly to those things is if we are properly informed.
02:19Mongrew said organizers of public meetings were required to provide notice to the commissioner of police
02:24while applications must be submitted for public marches.
02:28He said compliance with those requirements allowed officers to deploy resources proportionately and effectively.
02:35Only then can the police, you know, respond proportionately.
02:41Mongrew said the TTPS would continue to assess each event individually,
02:45using available intelligence and operational planning to determine the appropriate policing response
02:51while maintaining public safety and order.
02:55Alexander Brussel, TV6 News.
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