The Trinidad and Tobago government Friday night said that the state of emergency (SoE), which is due to expire next week, has produced the desired results while insisting it is part of a raft of measures to deal with the crime situation here.
‘Let me make something absolutely clear from the outset. The state of emergency is ending because the law say that it must. It is not ending because the threat has disappeared. It is not ending because the police has finished its job and it is not ending because the criminal gangs have been given reprieve,’ Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander said in a statement to Parliament. He said that it is not the end because the government has lost its resolve.
‘The emergency powers will end, the fight against crime will continue. There will be no ease up…on the pressure that will be. There will be no retreat, no surrender, no white flags, all red.’
Alexander old legislators that the government’s position is zero tolerance and has always been a zero tolerance against the criminal activities and a relentless law pursuit to pressure those who threaten the safety and security of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
The SoE, which took effect on March 3 and has already been extended twice, is scheduled to expire on September 17 and Alexander in thanking the law-abiding citizens said ‘we want to make it abundantly clear that this government will not allow the criminal elements to roam your streets, to take possession of your homes and businesses without some sort of retaliation”.
Alexander said that the SoE was necessary because of the number of violent criminal acts being carried out by members of organised criminal gangs.
‘Law enforcement advised that the criminal gangs had escalated in their acts of violence on a scale so extensive that the result in multiple deaths and mass shootings. And that this pattern of behaviour was expected to continue.’
But he said that the National Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissesar ‘had no choice’ and it was immediately determined that there should be a SoE to deal with the situation.
‘This government acts because responsible governments do not sit by and watch criminals torture citizens. When the security of the nation is threatened, the state must respond. And we must respond decisively and effectively,’ Alexander said, adding ‘ the state of emergency was not symbolic’.
The former senior police officer said that the SoE was an operational instrument and that ‘it created a space for coordinating intelligence and sustainable actions against persons and network accused of driving violent crime forward’
He said throughout this period, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) conducted operations supported by active inter-agency collaboration and that the operational objectives were clear.
‘Suppress gang activities, recover illegal firemen ammunition, execute warrant, track priority offenders, and disrupt criminal networks,’ he said, resulting in 13,108 operations, 5,767 arrests.
‘As of day 191, which was yesterday, the state of emergency, the protective services had conducted 13,108 operations. The TTPS arrested 5,767 persons. A total of 702 preventative detention orders has been approved, of which 573 has been executed.’
Alexander said law enforcement recovered 318 firearms, and 6,414 rounds of ammunition had been recovered.
‘Every round of ammunition seized is one less bullet available for the criminals. Every criminal network disrupted, weakened the machinery of violence that had caused suffering in our community. That is criminal capability being dismantled.’
Alexander said as of Thursday, 240 persons held under preventative detention orders have been charged and will now face the court and that investigations are continuing into the others.
Alexander said that while there have been successes Trinidad and Tobago is moving in the right direction.
He said for the period January 1t to September 10 his year, the total serious crimes reported fell from 8,014 incidents in 2025 to 6,884 in 2026, representing a 14.1 per cent reduction. He said murders fell from 438 in 2024 to 262 in 2025 and to 252 in 2026. Wounding and shooting fell from 542 in 2024 to 402 in 2025 and 313 in 2026. Robberies fell from 1,723 in 2024 to 1,325 in 2025 and now 901 so far this year.
‘… these are not imagined. These are real statistics provided by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and they tell us something important. Pressure works, sustained law enforcement works, intelligence led policing works, disrupting gang works, taking guns and ammunition off the street works, pulling officers where they are needed works.
‘No responsible government would claim that every reduction is attributed to one single measure, but neither should anyone ignore what the evidence is telling us. During the state of emergency, law enforcement identified criminal capabilities with disruptive and principal crime indicators moving in the right direction.’
Alexander said the expiration of the state of emergency detention powers does not ease or erase evidence, nor does it close an investigation and destroy intelligence.
‘ It does not close police files and it certainly does not prevent a lawful change from being brought, a lawful charge to be brought at a later stage. The police will continue to investigate into persons and networks of interest.
‘Where admissible evidence reaches the requirement threshold, those matters will be placed before the court through the established criminal justice process. Operational details will not be disclosed in this house where disclosure could compromise an investigation,’ Alexander added.
‘ And I want those who believe that the expiration of the state of emergency means the expiration of police attending attention and understanding something very clear. They will continue to pursue persons, they will continue to work with intelligence, they will continue to make arrests, they will continue to charge persons and those who decide to confront police officers and other agencies in gun battle, well, you may ask yourself a serious question,’ Alexander said.
‘The SOE was one weapon in the state arsenal against crime. It was never the entire arsenal. This government has never presented the state of emergency as the only answer to crime. It formed part of a broader sustainable national security strategy.
‘That strategy strengthened manpower, it improved mobility and visibility, and it modernised legislation and technology. It strengthened our borders and it confronted traffickers and cyber crime personnel and it also addressed the social and behavioural conditions that place our young people at risk,’ Alexander told Parliament.