Student Suspended From Preysal Secondary School After Locking Police Officer In Classroom
A student has been reportedly suspended from the Preysal Secondary School for locking a Police Officer in a classroom. Other suspensions may be issued following the brazen incident, which occurred at the school on Friday (12th September, 2025), as confirmed by President of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Kris Balkaransingh.
The suspended student reportedly claimed to school officials that the Officer was asleep in the Spanish classroom when the door was closed.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Operations, Junior Benjamin, is expected to receive a report on the incident soon, after which he will determine what action can be taken against the student or students responsible.
According to reports, the Officer was in a classroom when the door was closed and locked from the outside by students. After the Officer raised an alarm, it took teachers at least thirty (30) minutes to unlock the door and let him out.
Preysal Secondary School, which has not issued any official communication on the matter, was deemed a “high-risk” school, amongst several others, where Police Officers were assigned in an attempt to clamp down on indiscipline and violence, since the beginning of the new school term on 8th September, 2025.
In a telephone interview with Guardian Media, PTA President Balkaransingh said he supported a Police presence in schools even before the Government made the announcement. “The actions that took place on Friday is strongly condemned by the PTA executive of the Preysal Secondary School. We do not support or condone those types of actions. Children need to show respect for authority and elders, and the PTA will also support whatever necessary but reasonable discipline is taken against the perpetrators of the said act.”
Balkaransingh, however, called for Officers assigned to schools to be equipped with body cameras and properly trained to handle students. He said, “We are being told that the Officers attached to the Preysal School are actually recruits from the barracks and not full-fledged Officers who would have gone through all the training on how to deal with children and different situations. Also, I am being told that the Officers have no body cams, and they are male officers, so therefore, if a fight or something takes place with female students, there is a lot of questions and a lot of restrictions!”
Meanwhile, DCP Benjamin, who is the Liaison Officer for the School Oriented Policing Unit, said the incident at Preysal Secondary School was under investigation, and he is expected to receive a report on it soon. “The matter is engaging our attention, and we will continue to work to get to the bottom of it.”
DCP Benjamin said he met with Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) - Specialized Support, Brian Soodeen, and ASP David Guelmo of the Community Policing Unit to conduct a post-mortem on how the week-long initiative has been working. “We will be looking at all incidents and checking to see how effective the measures have been and what can be done to improve going forward.”
Investigations are continuing.
More on this as it becomes available.
[Source: T&T Guardian]
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