Police in the green

“Look at that smoke coming out the muffler,” Police Sergeant Dwarika Persad said as he pulled behind the car and followed it for a few hundred yards. When you pull off there may be a puff of smoke but what I am looking for is continuous visible vapour and as you can see, it has been smoking continuously,” he said as he flipped on his siren and pulled over the car.

The man has no excuses and is reported under Regulation 38 Rule 13 of the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act. He and the other hundreds of thousands of motorists in Trinidad and Tobago know it is illegal to pollute the atmosphere with exhaust fumes and that the law was being enforced since July 1999. These emissions not only endanger human health but also contribute to global warning and depletion of the ozone layer. He has 14 days to pay a fine of TT$60 or he may contest it. If he goes to court and is convicted, the fine is TT$1 000 or six months imprisonment.

He was reported by the Environmental Police of Trinidad and Tobago, a special 25-member squad which is specially trained in environmental law, has arrested 69 people so far and charged over 3 000 for various acts of pollution. They work closely with the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) which was formed five years ago to write and enforce environmental legislation so that Trinidad and Tobago can live up to the obligations it made, along with other Caribbean countries, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero in 1994.

Persad said because the fine was so small, some people preferred to pay it but not repair their vehicles. Communications manager of the EMA Joan Ferreira said that abuse will soon end because amendments to the law are coming which would see a car with multiple
violations being automatically re-registered. So far, an average 550 to 600 motorists are reported each month for polluting the atmosphere. Hand in hand with enforcement is a new regulation which came into effect last year requiring all vehicles older than five years to get an annual road-worthy check.

Smoke emissions are not the only offence for which drivers are reported, said Constable Ziad Mohammed as he pulled over a truck on the Uriah Butler Highway which links Port of Spain to San Fernando. Bending down under the 12-wheeler he shows us oil leakage.

“That oil leak is an offence. The charge is ‘unnecessary discharge of lubricating oil on a roadway’,” said Mohammed.

And if the vehicle has continuous visible exhaust and oil discharge, the driver gets two tickets.

Illegal dumpers and litterbugs, if caught in the act, are arrested. That person must face the court at 9 a.m. the following day and the case is tried immediately. On summary conviction the penalty is either $1 000 or six months imprisonment. Since the clamp down started last July, 69 people were arrested  – 37 up to the time of publication of this article.

“When we see a dump site, we do surveillance. We have mobile patrols in the evening using plain clothes officers. The last person we caught red handed right on this spot,” said Persad who heads up the special unit.

That spot, Freeman Road at Caroni, was a secluded location filled with more coconut shells than perhaps all of Bridgetown would see in a year.

Under the Litter Act, the police also issue clean-up orders. Mohammed explained that if a coconut vendor, for example, does not clean up his pile of coconut shells from the area he is selling, he is issued with a clean-up order. If he does not clean up within three days, he is charged and taken to court the following day.

Fouling the atmosphere with smoke from burning garbage is also an arrestable offence.

“Not too long ago we arrested two people for burning copper wire. When this wire is burnt the smoke is very toxic. It is a very poisonous gas and very dangerous to human health. They were each fined $1000 by the court.”

If you are caught burning garbage between December 1, and June 30, without a permit from the Chief Fire Officer, that is also an offence the penalty for which is $1 500 or six months’ imprisonment.

Ferreira said this was just the tip of the iceberg. In the making are laws to set up an Environmental Court. That was contingent on the establishment of an Environmental Commission which would be the Appeal Court. So far, the Litter Act and the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act were the only two laws being enforced at this time as part of a pilot project using the regular courts. When the Environmental Court is established a greater number of environmental laws will be enforced.