Journalists in Trinidad and Tobago have called for an urgent amendment to a sweeping new bill that increases police powers of search and seizure, which they argue threatens the country’s much-vaunted freedom of the press.
The government says the Special Operations Bill 2026, passed on September 24, is designed to tackle alarmingly high crime and murder rates in the Caribbean nation.
The country has spent more than a year in an almost perpetual state of emergency, with police empowered to bypass normal constitutional rights around arrest, detention, and search and seizure.
But journalists in Trinidad & Tobago have called for explicit exemptions in the new legislation to prevent police from searching and seizing their notebooks, phones and laptops.
In the past, journalists have been forced to challenge warrants empowering police to raid their homes and offices.
Although the country ranked 19 out of 180 countries in the 2025 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, this year it fell 13 places to 32.
Journalists say they are deeply concerned about whether they can protect whistleblowers and vulnerable sources who share information on the understanding that they will be protected.