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Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar hands over keys to ten newly-repaired TTPS vehicles to DCP Junior Benjamin on Friday. - Prime Minister Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar attended a vehicle handover ceremony alongside Deputy Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin and members of the TTPS on Friday.
The event marked the delivery of ten newly-repaired police vehicles, representing the first instalment of a batch of 50 scheduled to be restored and returned to service before Christmas.
A press release said that on assuming office in April, Government discovered that almost 500 TTPS vehicles were parked across various locations throughout Trinidad – some for months, others for years – due to minor mechanical issues such as tyres, brakes, and other small repairs.
This long-standing lack of functional resources significantly hindered the police service’s ability to effectively combat criminal activity, the release said.
Following the prime minister’s directive, VMCOTT (the Vehicle Maintenance Corporation) undertook an accelerated repair programme and, within one week, successfully restored the first ten vehicles.
These units will immediately rejoin frontline operations, strengthening the TTPS’s mobility and response capacity as the nation enters the busy Christmas period, when heightened criminal activity is traditionally observed.
In a statement to the House of Representatives on Friday evening, Persad-Bissessar said the value of the repaired vehicles was $3m and the cost to bring them back to good working order was $70,000.
The PM reaffirmed Government’s unwavering commitment to providing the TTPS with the resources required to ensure public safety.
She further noted that in addition to the 40 refurbished vehicles expected to be handed over before Christmas, projections indicate that over 100 more vehicles can be repaired early in the new year.
VMCOTT is also actively engaged in repair works for vehicles of the TT Defence Force.
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