TSS will be disbanded when crack crime squad formed -Gajraj
Stabroek News
December 22, 2002
The 'Black Clothes' police will be disbanded when a crack force, trained and equipped to deal with dangerous criminals becomes operational.
Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj on Thursday confirmed that a "Crack Squad" is being formed to replace the Target Special Squad (TSS) which is being disbanded. He told reporters yesterday at a press conference at the GTV studios, Homestretch Avenue, that President Bharrat Jagdeo had "accepted that position but there are certain conditions attached."
"The principal condition is that the replacement body must be one that is well-trained [with] perhaps [a] broader spread of ranks trained and equipped a certain way to deal with certain situations and that very body may well have incorporated into it some of the current members of what is known as the Target Force."
Gajraj justified the inclusion of some members of the 'Black Clothes' police in the new unit by commenting that "while we need policemen who could smile and shake hands and say good morning or afternoon as the case may be, we also need men with the training, the courage, the equipment and the determination to deal with certain kinds of situation, particularly where criminals might be armed and dangerous."
He said, "as soon as that body comes into operational being, the Target Force as you might know it might no longer exist."
There have been calls for an inquiry into the activities of the 'Black Clothes' police squad, which is accused of having carried out extra-judicial killings.
As part of his anti-crime measures President Jagdeo had announced the creation of crack squad, and the establishment of special facilities for training them. Also, at the level of the consultation with the Social Partners, one of the anti-crime measures on which there is agreement is the disbandment of the Target Special Squad.
