On Patrol - Episode 5 Mounted Patrol and Community Policing
#OnPatrol gives the public unprecedented access into community policing & the Mounted Patrol Branch of the TTPS.
Transcript
00:00 TTPS has it easy. It's a grueling job no matter what department you work in. But if we're being
00:05 honest, some jobs definitely seem like more fun than others. This week and next week we're training
00:10 with the TTPS's four-legged officers of the mounted branch and canine unit. We'll introduce you to the
00:16 men and women who get them ready to protect and serve. I'm Robert Dumas. Sad luck, we're going on patrol.
00:23 [Music]
00:38 Corporal, have you ever been in a situation where you thought, look this is going to get tricky
00:43 and it turned out to be a pleasant experience just by the very nature of the horses being
00:48 around as you said and people being very open to the presence of such beautiful creatures?
00:54 Yes, let me show you an example. For carnival, a lot of people, they see the horses. Some are afraid,
01:06 right? Some when they see the horses coming, they're actually scared. And we may pass them sometimes
01:13 and they may ask, what are you doing here with all your horse? All your pass to close. But there are times where
01:19 they would actually need us to clear a crowd. People can't move, you know. And when they actually
01:27 do engage the crowd and we do our work, so I'm so happy, the masqueraders happy. Yeah. Yeah. But you get
01:34 instances where people don't want to move, I'm sure. Oh yes, oh yes. Yeah. And how do you deal, how do you deal with that?
01:39 We are trained for that. We have met us and we have dealt with that. Is any horse hit somewhere?
01:43 Right. On camera, on camera. No, we don't have anybody on us, right? But we have met us and we move in the crowd.
01:53 Right. Without anybody getting injured. Okay. This episode we're looking at community and crime.
01:58 We're here right now at the Mounted Branch where there are 34 horses. Horses, the breeds are ranging from
02:03 warm bloods to thoroughbreds. And it's a lot of amazing stuff. These creatures are just beautiful
02:09 animals. What we learned is that, you know, it's not just about the events like the parades, the
02:13 independence parade. They're doing so much more with this Mounted Branch. They go from Manzanilla,
02:19 Maracas, Laventille, Nelson Street, La Saiva, all over. A lot of community events. The children
02:27 love these horses. People just gravitate naturally to these beautiful animals. And of course, you can see why.
02:33 For patrol, there's plenty of space.
02:35 It's not a gimmick. I mean, you guys actually go out on patrol, will put, say, pursue a criminal if
03:00 you saw an action.
03:02 And that is true. And we are mounted. And we do all aspects of policing. Right? So where an incident may arise,
03:13 where you may see a criminal and so on, if we can hold on to that person, seize that person,
03:18 arrest that person, and then we call for backup. What happens is, normally, we would patrol around
03:25 the whole of the state and environments. But as time went by, we realized that different aspects of
03:31 communities and so on, they need to see our presence. So from time to time, especially when
03:37 we have big occasions and so on, we take the horses to different districts and communities and so on,
03:42 letting people see. Are they open to it? Yes, yes. Letting people see Mounted Branch. And they welcome us.
03:48 Some of them, they would say, "We haven't seen this for years." Or, "This is the first time I've seen
03:54 a horse." Or even have the opportunity to touch a horse and interact with the Mounted Police.
04:00 Do you enjoy what you're doing, interacting with the community? Of course, we enjoy interacting
04:05 with the community a lot. We also enjoy when they come here. A lot of schools come here and bring
04:09 children from time to time. But that is at a cease right now due to the situation with the coronavirus.
04:18 But we hope that in due time, we start back doing a lot of community service. We have a program called
04:28 the Therapeutic Riding Program. What happens is that we have special needs children, some who may be
04:36 affected with Down syndrome, autism, slow learners, handicaps. They all come here, right,
04:46 under the umbrella of the school. And we put them through that program. And you'll find after
04:53 they have gone through the program, each of their changes. Sometimes their minds open up because
04:58 it's a mechanical thing. There are so many different things that they got to do on horses,
05:01 so many different things they got to remember. It actually opens up your mind, behave yourself.
05:05 A special needs child on the back of a horse, that horse is calm as horse. Even horses that
05:12 are not as calm as others. When you put a child on the back of that horse, that horse becomes very
05:16 calm and works with the child. We have an area designated called the riding school. And that's
05:31 where every day we exercise these horses. Because these horses need exercise every day. They are
05:44 a wild animal and they are custom running, exercising and so on. Also, it keeps the horses
05:50 in good condition. It keeps the officers who are riding the horses in good condition.
05:54 Practice makes permanent. Control that horse, man. Control that horse.
06:04 You're letting the horse get away from you. Watch out.
06:14 Would you like to speak to that?
06:14 That was one of the newly acquired horses that we have gotten in January. Like human beings,
06:24 horses have a mind of their own. So horse assistant training, as was said in the press,
06:31 that the horse escaped, the horse did not escape. The horse really was tired of the exercises that
06:36 he was going through. And he went back into his stall. The horse went straight back into his stall.
06:41 First of all, I love planning. So there's an interview. You find out how you feel about
06:47 horses and so on. The superintendent and his senior officers, they will interview you and see
06:56 where your heart really is. Right. Right. After that, once you have been selected, then we'll
07:02 come under the management of our instructor, the instructor team. And we begin to take it through
07:11 week upon week upon week and see how you feel. By maybe the first three weeks to a month,
07:19 we determine whether or not you really love this or not. At the branch here, we have aids,
07:26 we have pools, we have the vets, the officers. The officers are properly taken care of.
07:31 My job here is to make sure the horse is in good health and the welfare the horse are being seen
07:36 about. Right. So when they go out on patrols, I make sure when they come back, they have
07:42 rest and they also have no bruises. The easiest part of my job is when I get a horse to cooperate
07:48 with me and allow me to medicate it properly. The hardest part is when I have to lift their foot,
07:54 letting a horse walk up to you and hug you without you prompting it. That's the best experience.
07:58 [Music]
08:18 Whenever you have something really cold or really hot and then you get this short, sharp kind of
08:22 sensation through your teeth, it kind of goes straight in and stimulates those nerves. And
08:26 that's that sensitivity. It can get worse. The problem is not going to go away by itself. You
08:31 need to do something about it. I always recommend Sensodyne. It blocks that uncomfortable sensation
08:37 and calms the nerve down. And I've had people coming back to me saying it's made a difference.
08:41 It works.
08:42 Are you at home feeling isolated? Don't worry, we will bring the world to you. The nation's first
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09:19 representatives and we will bring the world to you. Thank you for staying with us. I'm Robert
09:31 Dumas. This is On Patrol. My co-host, Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith is with us, but
09:36 digitally. And I'm joined on set by Commander Sheldon Edgell and Senior Superintendent
09:42 Hospitalis from the Mounted Branch and K-9 Unit. Gentlemen, good evening.
09:47 Good evening, Robert. I have a love for horses, as I'm sure most people do when they come into
09:52 contact, when humans come into contact with horses. How important would you say the Mounted
09:58 Branch has been and continues to be in the fight against crime when you go out on certain exercises?
10:03 Everybody, the Mounted Branch, over the years, when we go out and interact with the public,
10:11 we get a different reaction to the average police officer on the street. I think the horses are a
10:17 common figure in the whole thing. So we get persons approaching us a lot easier. And in many cases,
10:27 we get information that sometimes other officers may not get. Horses as well, we use to interact
10:35 with children. Children love horses. So you find that they are, they move towards the horse,
10:40 they want to touch the horse, they want to come on the horses for photographs and so on.
10:44 And we use that opportunity to speak to them, to kind of get into their heads, especially in some
10:50 of these areas where we call high crime areas, so that we can have conversations with them and try
10:56 our best to keep them on the right path. So when you ask the TTPS, if you see something,
11:01 say something. When persons see the horses, they actually now come out and say something,
11:04 which is a benefit. Yes, yes. Commander, you know, you, on some of these exercises,
11:09 you mentioned to me at one point that if you can only get, divert one child, take them away from a
11:15 life of crime, and that the possibility that they may look at the, you know, Mounted Branch coming
11:20 out and say, I'd like, Daddy, I'd like to do that, or Mommy, I'd like to do that. It'd make you a
11:24 happy man. It would. And as Mr. Hospitalis was saying, you go out there and the kids love the
11:30 horses. They love to interact with the horses. So what I've been trying to get the police officers
11:36 at Mounted Branch and other areas to understand is when they go, they're ambassadors for the police.
11:41 So what I would really like is for a little boy, a little girl to look at an officer on a horseback,
11:46 to look at an officer on a motorbike, and tell themselves, that is what I want to do. Mommy,
11:51 Daddy, I want to be a policeman on a horseback. And as Mr. Hospitalis says, they love the horses,
11:55 so they come out and they interact. And it's for people to understand that police is just not the
12:00 hard side of policing. They're the softer side of policing, where we try more persuasion rather
12:05 than enforcement. - Horses, the Mounted Branch right now is known more for the community and
12:10 parades and escorts and so on. But there's a level, of course, the horses are being trained
12:15 even to deal with riot situations during carnival or any situation that might come out as a result
12:20 of a riot. But some news is that you guys are looking to take the Mounted Branch, or the TTPS
12:24 are looking to take the Mounted Branch into Tobago. The commissioner, when he was Minister of
12:29 National Security, would get a lot of requests from hoteliers saying, we're only seeing these
12:33 guys passing by and driving with the windows up and air-conditioned blasting. What about an actual
12:38 presence? And we're not going to see something. - Correct. Robert, what we have done is we have
12:43 recently taken delivery of 10 new horses from Holland. So what the goal with the branches and
12:48 the commissioner's goal is that when those horses get up to train, up-trained up, we could permanently
12:52 station horses in Tobago, four to six horses in Tobago. And they would serve a double purpose.
12:57 In that you're quite right, the hoteliers complain that policemen just drive by in cars with the
13:03 windows up and the air-conditioned doing patrols. They see the officers, but they can't interact.
13:07 So we are hoping that with the mounted officers there, we could now get the beaches
13:12 where inaccessible by police car, but tourists like to go and visit. And they'll be able to
13:19 patrol those areas. And the big thing is we would really like to have horses on the independence
13:23 parade in Tobago, which had never been done before. That is a goal the commissioner is
13:27 driving very hard for. - Well, that's certainly good news. - What also happens in Tobago,
13:33 prior to COVID-19, horses went to Tobago once every quarter. We actually took horses to Tobago
13:40 and then put shows in Tobago. So when that occurred, you will find that the people in
13:45 Tobago would have reacted because they are not accustomed seeing horses in Tobago.
13:49 That was what started the process for placing horses in Tobago permanently. COVID-19 has put
13:58 that on the back burner for now, but until it can be done permanently, once we can, we'll be
14:06 carrying horses to Tobago as much as possible. - So do you have a suggested timeline? Is there
14:11 something you've taken to the commissioner or the commissioner has in mind for a timeline for
14:14 a sort of permanent home or stable for horses? - We have to- - Or more regularly taking horses
14:20 over? - We have to get a permanent place for the horses in Tobago because the horses, the same
14:28 facilities we have in Trinidad as it relates to the horses and the dogs, they have to have the
14:33 same thing in Tobago. So the horses can be fed, they can have a place to run and so on. So that
14:38 is what is being looked at at the moment. - And we are looking at the new Chauvin Road
14:41 station, which has a lot of land in the back. So we're hoping to build six stables in the back for
14:46 the horses as well as kennels for the dogs, where the horses will be stationed there full-time.
14:50 - Pre-deal last week is on the rise. We heard the commissioner last week speak about fast-tracking
14:56 FULs, firearm user licenses for farmers. Is that something that we're looking at with regards to
15:03 the mounted branch in areas that your traditional transport, cars, et cetera, can't get to,
15:10 to see more patrols of the horses in those areas? - What we have done in Trinidad here,
15:17 as Corporal Gillian would have told you when you were with us on Wednesday,
15:22 we have realized that a lot of the rural communities don't see horses. So we started
15:29 going to areas like Manzanilla and these areas, Toko and these areas, where you can carry all the
15:33 horses in a horse box, come off, bung the horses, ride, go all on the beaches, go to tracks and so
15:40 on. That could be effective. The more we do it, we can assist, but it will depend a lot on
15:49 how much availability, manpower and so on. But it is done. We do it as much as possible. Sometimes
15:56 we try to do it every week. But again, COVID-19 has put that on us. - Now, Commander, it certainly
16:02 can't be cheap to maintain these animals, officers. Would you say it's worth it in terms of
16:08 what the value that the mounted branch brings to the TTPS and the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago?
16:12 - I love horses. I've been riding horses since 2004. So to me, yes, it is worth it. I know
16:18 previous commissioners, in my mind, did not see the correct value of the mounted branch. The
16:24 present commissioner does. And he understands the need for not only hard policing, but soft policing.
16:30 So yes, there is a need for the mounted branch. We do ceremonial work. We do escorts. We do patrols
16:38 in town. We do community service. We do, as you would know, we have done work with Special
16:42 Olympics, children and so on. So there is a major need for the mounted branch. And it's something we
16:47 want to keep running and keep growing and keep improving. - What would you say to some of the
16:51 misconceptions about the mounted branch, as well as persons who may call and cry animal cruelty?
16:59 - Well, people look at the mounted branch as a waste of time. I'll be honest here,
17:03 because we are not fighting crime. But we do fight crime. I should say the mounted branch
17:07 does fight crime, but they fight it in a different way. They fight it rather than go after a criminal.
17:12 We, the mounted branch, is there to try to stop the person from becoming a criminal.
17:16 And to me, that's a win. And I think that is where the mounted branch is important.
17:21 The cruelty to animals, I mean, we are very humane with our, with the horses. We have hired two vets
17:28 full time, which has never happened before. So the horses get excellent care. We have been in
17:33 conversation with the suppliers of our feet to make sure they get the proper protein. We get
17:38 proper medicine. And the commissioner is very, very willing to make sure the animals are well
17:42 treated and that no animal at the branches suffers for anything. And that is the way we go. And in
17:48 fact, we have even had conversations with Her Majesty's Household Calvary, where they have
17:55 come down and paid a visit to us. And unfortunately, COVID stopped it. But we were supposed to go and
17:59 visit them. And they were going to send on farriers to help us to suggest how we look after
18:03 horses, make suggestions. And we would have that exchange going on. So yes, we do pay a lot of
18:08 emphasis on the welfare and being of the horses. Even after they have retired, we still, after we
18:13 donate them, we still go and look at people who have taken the horses to make sure they're well
18:18 treated. So we're going to take a couple calls just after this break in our Talk to TNT segment.
18:24 All right, so we're going to take a couple calls. On set, I have Commander Edgel and of course,
18:37 the Superintendent Hospitalis in charge of the Mounted Branch and K9 unit. We're talking community,
18:44 the impact that the Mounted Branch has with the TTPS and of course, the population of Trinidad
18:50 and Tobago. Superintendent, you've been the head of the unit for the last eight months.
18:56 What sort of impact would you say you've made thus far? And what you'd like to see?
19:04 Since I've been at the Mounted Branch, what I have realized that the Mounted Branch has a
19:09 team of really dedicated officers. There's no duty or no function we ask of them that they refuse.
19:18 The officers love to work. They love to work with the horses and they come out to work. What we do,
19:25 we try to, what I've tried to do since I've been there is increase their interaction with the
19:30 public. As recently as last week, we went into Gonzales. It's an area that you usually will not
19:39 patrol and we had quite an impact there. So much so that we intend to go back.
19:44 I would like to see the Mounted Branch grow as a unit in the police service where people can have
19:54 respect for them. They do a lot of work both in the public and behind doors.
20:01 Looking at more prevention than anything else? More prevention, preparing the horses.
20:06 We have to prepare. When a horse has, for example, a patrol or an escort, the horses have to be
20:12 prepared from way before, right? The officers have to prepare. We have a call on the line. Good evening.
20:20 Good evening. Hi, good evening. I want to ask a question concerning the horses. Yes. Do you all breed them?
20:36 Do you all breed the horses? No, we don't. What we have found is breeding horses is a very costly
20:46 and scientific method. Plus, when you have male horses and female horses, if you're in heat,
20:52 the male horses get very angry and they fight and we try not to deal with that. So most of our horses
20:59 are ghellins. In fact, all our horses are ghellins or males. So we avoid that because it is a big task
21:06 and expensive to breed horses. All right, we take a short break. When we come back,
21:12 we have the commissioner on the line. Men, are you tired and run down? Ladies,
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21:50 pharmacies. Welcome back. Thank you for staying with us. We're talking about community and the
22:03 mountain branch in particular. We have with us, we're now joined by my co-host, Commissioner of
22:08 Police Gary Griffith. Commissioner, I'd like you to initially see, hear this sound bite by the
22:15 opposition leader, Kamala Bissette this afternoon. What is this? This is a non-custodial ways of
22:24 pre-trial taking care of people who may be charged. So the system meters against poor black people,
22:32 especially, sorry to say it, but the poor, whether you're black, brown or blue, it meters against
22:38 the poor. And what is needed is bail reform, not more draconian bail legislation. Commissioner,
22:47 some really powerful words there being used, non-custodial, even a reference to ethnicities
22:55 talking about bail reform. Commissioner, you were part of that advisory committee at one stage.
23:02 What would be your response right now to the opposition leader? And what are some of the
23:07 things that you would like to see changed going forward? Sure. Can you hear me Robert? I'm hearing
23:13 you. Yeah, I mean, it is amazing. I'm trying to stay away from the politics for obvious reasons,
23:18 but that was absolutely the most ridiculous comment I've ever heard in politics in my life.
23:24 Because what she's alluding to is to say that, listen, the population release everyone from jail
23:30 because persons might be, so if you're poor, you're Afro-Trinidadian, you're Indo-Trinidadian,
23:34 you should not go to jail. The main thing for someone going to jail is for somebody to be
23:39 rehabilitated, but just as important to protect the lives of others. So she's so concerned about
23:44 these poor black boys. What about the 500 poor black boys that were killed because the other
23:49 individuals who she has a concern with and she wants them to be free and not to be in prison,
23:54 that by them coming out in public, they have killed the other 500 poor black boys.
23:59 It is unbelievable that politicians always try to use race or religion or your wealth to try to
24:08 hope that you can use that to dive in from the topic. The fact of the matter is that she, when
24:12 she was prime minister, agreed to the same bill with a small nine millimeter round and with a
24:18 sidearm. Where was he concerned about the poor black boy then? Where was he concerned when 500
24:22 were arrested during the SOE? Where was he concerned when many of them were arrested for
24:27 the same type? But guess what? When this was done, there were only 18 homicides in 45 years.
24:32 It is unbelievable that someone will try to use race and someone's wealth to try to justify.
24:37 So guess what? Brazil, Australia, France, all of these countries who are responsible for firearm,
24:42 they are wrong and Kamala Hussain is right when we reach.
24:45 Well, Commissioner, we can agree that crime has no color, but everyone should have a right to
24:52 bail. So should we be looking at maybe an increase in the fine or the charge at that particular
24:58 point, maybe a set of a benchmark or a minimum of a hundred thousand plus to make it more difficult
25:03 for someone to get bail? Is that something that you would look at as a consideration?
25:08 No, not at all. Because the fact of the matter is she decided in 2013 for a sidearm and for a
25:14 nine millimeter round. And there was a reason for that. Because you're speaking about why must we
25:18 do right of someone when someone carries a firearm? It means that the intent is to kill persons.
25:23 We must not have to wait until that person kills someone to take away his constitutional right of
25:29 freedom. You know what his intention is. If you find someone with a detonator and time was on
25:34 chemicals, you know he's making up to kill people. You're not waiting until he commits the act. You
25:39 know he's a terrorist, so he will not get bail. It is the same situation. If someone, if that's
25:44 him in the video, kills someone, you're then going to say he should not have bail. But if it is he's
25:49 carrying the weapon with an intent to kill someone, you say he has a right to get bail. That makes
25:54 absolutely no sense. There are 800 court shooters as I stated. We have arrested over 4,000 persons
26:00 with firearms in the last five and a half years. So we have basically arrested the same persons
26:05 three and four times over. Had we arrested these persons and they remain where they belong,
26:09 these persons should not be made free. They are the scum of the society that have killed
26:15 innocent people in this country. We put them where they belong, it will ensure that the
26:19 murder rate will be decreased. And it seems that some persons, they are concerned about that.
26:23 MR. FLAVION: Commissioner, I'd like you to speak to the former police officer and his wife
26:30 that were killed today, retired Corporal McCann and his wife. Any word or message on that?
26:37 MR. KANYONG: No, not at all. Any matter that has been thoroughly investigated, I stick to it. It
26:42 is difficult, if not improper, for me to make any comment at this time. But again, going back to the
26:48 situation, if we continue to take two or three firearms off the streets every day, we continue
26:53 to arrest two persons at least every day with a firearm, if they continue to be released because
26:59 we are politicians, we must continue to not arrest persons and let them stay free when you have them
27:06 with a firearm. We are not getting anywhere. The people who say that, by the way, sometimes they
27:10 have special security around them, so they are protected, their families are protected. The
27:15 average citizen out there, the same poor black boy that she speaks about, they don't have special
27:19 security for them and their family. So the best way to protect them is to ensure that those people
27:24 who want to kill these individuals are put behind bars. And let us not be fooled with any politician
27:29 using race or wealth as an excuse to cover the stupidity of what we are doing today. Because
27:36 this was done in 2014 and it worked. Where was her concern then about poor black boys?
27:40 MR. MWAKANAN: Commissioner, you used the analogy today with regards to catch and release and a
27:47 revolving door. In that regard, what would you need in order to – the percent at this point is 31%,
27:56 to bring it up to 50% in the fight against crime. What would you need right now from the government
28:01 to assist in your fight against crime and empower the TTPS more than is happening at the moment?
28:10 MR. MWAKANAN: Well, as I said, two things. First, the criminal justice system. The police,
28:14 we are doing all that we can do. We have never had a situation where police officers, as I said,
28:19 we are seizing three firearms a day at times. We are arresting two persons with firearms a day.
28:24 When, however, they get bail the next day or next thing – when they get bail, they go out
28:30 onto the streets for years waiting on the case to commence. By that time, the witness has disappeared.
28:35 The perpetrator might no longer be around. And then three, if and when the case was true and
28:41 they are found guilty, they plead guilty, then you have the court hitting them with a hard slap
28:47 of $5,000 TTP fine where other countries' persons are sentenced to 15 years in prison. So the
28:53 criminal justice system, as I said, we get 800 persons who have been contributing to the majority
28:59 of homicides. We clean up that criminal justice system. We'll get there. The second part, as it
29:04 pertains to the government, it is a system that has plagued our country for 15 years with
29:09 administration after administration giving criminal elements state contracts. They get the
29:14 state contracts. They use the profits to purchase more drugs, hire – get more illegal weapons,
29:19 hire more gang members, put hits on other gangs to get their state contracts. And then sometimes
29:24 it is done by individuals not knowing. Sometimes they're involved or sometimes based on
29:28 intimidation. We intend to get involved. Commissioner, thank you so much. We've run
29:33 out of time. Today's episode was about community policing. And community policing is all about
29:39 getting members of the public to come to you and not run from you. That's the role these horses
29:45 play. As you've heard, these are hardworking officers who patrol the streets every day,
29:50 not just Independence and Carnival time. Remember, they need your help to fight crime. So don't be
29:56 afraid to say hi next time you see them. On patrol – this is On Patrol. I'm Robert Dumas on behalf of
30:02 my guest, Commander Sheldon Edgell and Superintendent Hospitalis, and of course, the Commissioner of
30:08 Police Gary Griffith. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you next week at a new time, 7.30 p.m.,
30:13 right after the newscast. Good night.
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