Rosemarie Sant
A private security unit set up by the late prime minister Patrick Manning, which provided security at the Prime Minister’s residence, Diplomatic Centre and the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), is being disbanded and 72 officers attached to it are to be sent home.
Executive Security Services (ESS) was established in 2007 and officers attached to the unit were paid by the State.
But speaking to the T&T Guardian on condition of anonymity yesterday, officers attached to the unit said they had already been removed from duty at the PM’s residence and have been told police from the Guard and Emergency Branch will take over their duties.
The officers admitted that “there is no denying we were paid good salaries, but if they doing this as a cost-cutting measure, then how you could justify having to pay Guard and Emergency officers who will take over overtime?”
The guards feared for their futures, noting they will be virtually “unemployed when the move takes effect” and some of them have children in university and loans and mortgages to pay.
“We are not being told anything, all we heard is that the Chief Personnel Officer is working out a package for us,” the guards said.
Well-placed sources told the T&T Guardian that a decision was taken to disband the unit from the end of this month. The officers’ tenures come to an end in April next year and they are wondering whether their contracts will be bought out, or if they will get two years of gratuity owed to them, which is 20 per cent of their monthly salaries.
The T&T Guardian has been reliably informed that the officers have been invited to a meeting today at the Office of the Prime Minister.
The ESS includes ex-police officers, former Special Branch officers, former soldiers and others who came from private security companies. While they are not more highly skilled or trained than other police and army personnel, they are specially trained in protocol.
Contacted yesterday, former National Security minister Gary Griffith said there was a budgetary allocation in the Office of the Prime Minister for the unit “because the officers are paid by the State since ESS is a State-registered company.” The unit was called the OPM Security Unit when the former administration took over.
Griffith said as National Security minister he did not renew the contracts of some officers, so the team was reduced by 40 per cent, “and I brought back in Special Branch and army to take control of security at the PM’s residence, the Diplomatic Centre and the Office of the Prime Minister.”
Griffith could not explain why the unit was created in the first place by Manning, saying “it was the first time that there was no army personnel at the residence and the Office of the Prime Minister. That affected the morale of the men and when I came in I brought back police and army, but not fully.”
But he said Manning may have been “ahead of his time,” because it is not unheard of that private security details protected the holders of office.
However, he said the unit here did “basic gate access in and out, so it was basically access control.” He said if the entire private team is removed, Griffith said about 80 officers would be needed to pick up the slack because you need “20 on a daily basis for rotation on three shifts.”
Cabinet note
The ESS was set up through a Cabinet note in 2007 and was retained when the People’s Partnership government came to power in 2010. But the T&T Guardian has been told that a Cabinet note has already been presented and approved by the Dr Keith Rowley-led Cabinet to disband the unit.
Apart from providing security at the PM’s residence, Diplomatic Centre and OPM, the unit also replaced Amalgamated Security Services Ltd at the St Michael’s Home for Boys, a decision taken after several break-outs by young men at the institution.
Contacted on the plan yesterday, the unit’s director, retired Army Sergeant Curtis Douglas, said he had heard talk but had not been informed officially. He referred all questions to the press secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Arlene George.
Contacted on the situation, T&T Police Service Social and Welfare Association (TTPSWA) president, Inspector Michael Seales, said he was not aware the unit was being disbanded and that more police would be required to take up duties at the PM’s office.