Roger Alexander wants answers on $93 million in TTPS phone bills. The peak year alone topped $32 million.
Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander is demanding an explanation for how the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) ran up more than $93 million in telephone expenses over four financial years. Alexander said the scale of the spending suggested “something was going wrong.” He spoke Sunday after the Remembrance Day wreath-laying ceremony at Memorial Park in Port of Spain.
Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request show the TTPS paid about $93 million to Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) for telephone services between 2021 and 2025. The largest yearly payment, about $32.2 million, was in 2021-2022. The Guardian reported payments of about $28.4 million in 2022-2023 and $19.1 million in 2023-2024. Spending declined over the period. The TTPS did not break down the costs between mobile services, fixed lines, airtime and data, so how much went on mobile phone bills is unclear.
Alexander said the Government is not prepared to approve inherited financial obligations without first examining the reasons for them. He said he wanted an explanation and was not willing to simply accept that the bills had to be paid. He questioned the size of the bill at a time when members of the public have reportedly had difficulty reaching police stations by phone, according to the Guardian. The Guardian also reported that three cases involving missing cellphones used by TTPS staff are under investigation.
The minister said the phone costs were among several issues the administration is now handling differently. He said he speaks daily with Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro as the Government takes a more direct approach to oversight of national security matters.
This report draws on the Trinidad Express and the Trinidad Guardian.