Opposition MP Camille Robinson-Regis wants Maloney’s nightly curfew lifted. The attorney general says police rehearsed before the closure.
The Maloney curfew should end immediately, Trinity/Maloney Member of Parliament Camille Robinson-Regis said Saturday, calling on the Government to lift the closed-area declaration over the Maloney Buildings Housing Development and publish the results of the police operation there.
Robinson-Regis, of the opposition People’s National Movement, made the call in a media release dated Nov. 14, 2026, issued from Port of Spain.
What the Maloney curfew involves
The Maloney Buildings Housing Development in Maloney Gardens was declared a closed area under the Special Operations Act, 2026, on Tuesday, Nov. 10, the first community declared under the new law, according to reports by the Trinidad Guardian and other local media. The declaration followed a non-fatal shooting the previous day, the Guardian reported.
Residents are subject to a nightly curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and to movement restrictions. Robinson-Regis said the measures carry the threat of fines of TT$50,000 and imprisonment. She said the restrictions have fallen on families, senior citizens, shift workers, healthcare workers and students, and have not been accompanied by a public account of what they are achieving.
Robinson-Regis’ five demands
“Based on what has been made public,” Robinson-Regis said, the operation has produced very few arrests and no clear evidence that the restrictions were necessary or proportionate. She argued that fighting crime requires evidence, targeted investigation and measurable results, and that a blanket restriction on a residential community offers none of these.
She called on the Government to:
- Lift the closed-area declaration and end the curfew without further delay.
- Publish the statement of grounds required under section 11 of the Act and present it to the House of Representatives.
- Publish the arrests, charges and prosecutions linked to the operation.
- Explain the criteria used to select Maloney and why similar measures have not been applied elsewhere, including Couva.
- Confirm that the Act’s safeguards, including body-worn cameras, training, complaints procedures and judicial oversight, were in place from the start.
Robinson-Regis said Maloney does not need to be locked down to be made safe, adding that it needs investigative policing, intelligence-led enforcement and sustained investment in the community. She said she supports every lawful effort to remove criminals and illegal firearms from communities but does not support treating an entire residential community as under suspicion.
Criticism of the prime minister
In a second part of the release, Robinson-Regis criticized Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, describing her recent statement that Maloney residents are her family as political gimmickry. She said love is demonstrated through action and posed a series of questions to the Government.
Among them, she asked why a car park basketball area used by young people had been taken over for a mobile police post, why phone calls and mobile data had been disrupted, why construction of a Housing Development Corporation sub-office had stopped, and why the Maloney Mall redevelopment, for which she said an Inter-American Development Bank loan existed when the PNM left office, had not been carried out 19 months after the current Government took office. The release did not include a government response to those claims.
She also said the Government had eliminated employment through programs including CEPEP and URP, and had discontinued or shut down youth programs including CCC, MiLAT and MYPART. She asked why residents of Couva, Claxton Bay and Felicity, whom she said had been calling for a lockdown, had not received the same treatment, and said public safety must not become a tool for political discrimination.
Robinson-Regis said residents would not be provoked, adding that they would remain disciplined, demand answers and hold the Government accountable.
Government and police position
Attorney General John Jeremie has defended the measure. In an interview reported by CNC3 on Saturday, he said the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service conducted dry runs before the declaration and had 300 officers in the community within 24 hours. Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro has said the declaration followed a review of intelligence and operational assessments, according to a local news report, and has not said how long the area will remain closed. The intelligence behind the decision has not been made public.
Residents’ concerns about the Maloney curfew
CNC3 reported a heavy police presence in Maloney on Saturday morning, with officers checking vehicles entering and leaving the community. Resident Kevin Hazelwood told the station he supports the measure but wants police to use discretion with residents. Teacher Natasha Moore-Sharp said the curfew had made transport more difficult, leaving schoolchildren and adults late, and that police had questioned her 12-year-old daughter about her bag.
Matthew Peters, president of the Maloney Gardens Community Council, condemned the Maloney curfew, saying the designation treats residents like guinea pigs for testing the Act. He said movement has been restricted throughout the day, not only during curfew hours, and that residents have experienced dropped calls and poor internet service since the declaration. Peters said the council is seeking an urgent meeting with the police service. CNC3 said it had asked Digital and TSTT about the claims and would share their responses.
What happens next
The Government has not yet responded publicly to Robinson-Regis’ release. Her release asks that the statement of grounds be presented to the House of Representatives, and the Maloney Gardens Community Council is seeking a meeting with police.