Trinidad hiring 39 Scotland Yard cops


AP
Friday, March 17, 2006


[align=justify]PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - Trinidad will hire 39 Scotland Yard officers to help combat rising crime in the Caribbean country, an official said yesterday.[/align]
[align=justify]The officers, hired for between two and three years by the Ministry of National Security, should arrive by month's end, said Vernetta Calvin-Smith, a ministry spokeswoman.
"The British officers and their know-how will be a great benefit to us," she said.[/align]
[align=justify]Authorities in Trinidad and Tobago reported a record 389 killings and more than 60 kidnappings for ransom in 2005 - about double the number of kidnappings in 2004.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning had included the officers in a police reform package presented to Parliament late Wednesday. He said the success of consulting work by Scotland Yard officials and US federal agents in December convinced him that hiring full-time officers from abroad would help fight crime.[/align]
[align=justify]The Scotland Yard officers will be able to make arrests and will work with the police's anti-crime unit.[/align]
[align=justify]Some countries in the region, such as Jamaica, St Vincent and Guyana, have also turned to US federal agents and Scotland Yard to deal with a surge in crime or high profile investigations.[/align]

What can we say, except it's vacation with pay for Scotland Yard. Trinidad should be nice this time of year. Also a strategic place to handle some Venezuela matters.

Jamaica had over 1600 murders last year, so I'm not sure that hiring foreigners did any good, although it may not have hurt the situation. Sad that you have to turn to the former colonial powers after you have gained independence to fight internal crime!! What would we do without Big Daddy?