Article Transformative Police Reform in Trinidad and Tobago: Prospects and Challenges Nathan W. Pino* Abstract The country of Trinidad and Tobago presents an interesting case for analysing policing and police re- form through the lens of transformative justice. Informed by a review of the relevant literature, including the author’s independent research, this article details how the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service faces numerous chal- lenges even after multiple evaluations and efforts at reform. Local civil society groups have been largely left out of police reform processes in spite of their local knowledge and social capital. Police reforms rooted in transformative justice will be difficult to achieve and sustain given current conditions in the country, but it is possible if there is a long-term and serious commitment to reform, led by local actors that initiate local solutions democratically while ensuring the genuine involvement of civil society groups, women, and other traditionally marginalized groups. Introduction The country of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) presents an interesting case for analysing policing and police reform through the lens of transforma- tive justice. T&T is a democratic state and has had peaceful transfers of power through elections since the country achieved independence in 1962. However, as I discuss below, T&T remains a coun- try where changes in law and previous top-down reform efforts led by foreign actors have not trans- lated into significant institutional changes in po- lice behaviour or accountability. That being said, we must also be mindful that it certainly is not the case that developed, Western countries, in con- trast, always have accountable police forces that protect democratic and human rights, as has been demonstrated regularly in the USA; or that Western models of policing can be unproblematically adopted and diffused in the glo- bal South (Ellison and Pino, 2012). In what follows I first discuss briefly the often- overlooked economic and political contexts of T&T that help shape policing and the prospects of transformative justice. I then provide an overview of the violent crime situation in T&T, the current state of policing, and previous police reform efforts, followed by the challenges facing the pros- pects for transformative police reform in T&T. I conclude that comprehensive, systemic changes in police behaviour and guarantees of non-repetition of violence will likely only come about in T&T if change is led and sustained from below, and if those in authority, including politicians and the police, are held accountable in line with trans- formative justice principles outlined below. There are challenges to achieving these goals given the *Professor of Sociology, Honorary Professor of International Studies, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, 78666, USA. E-mail:np11@txstate.edu Policing, Volume 0, Number 0, pp. 1–14 doi:10.1093/police/paaa018 V C The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com 1 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/policing/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/police/paaa018/5827732 by guest on 03 May 2020