How we began

The Ministry of Home Affairs was given the responsibility for the administration of:

• The Police Service
• The Social Services Department (Public Assistance, Old Age, the Co-operative Department and Community Development)
• The Immigration Service
• The District Administration Services
• The Cadet Corps Movement
• The Government Printery

Following the 1961 General Elections, the portfolios assigned to the Ministry of Home Affairs were amended to include:

• The Maintenance of law and order and the administration of the Police Force (now the Police Service)
• The administration of the Probation and the Prison Services
• The administration of the Immigration Services
• The administration of the Cadet Corps Movement
• The issue of Marriage Licences and Missionary Permits
• Advising the Governor General on the exercise of Mercy

The Ministry was no longer responsible for:

• The Social Services Department (Public Assistance, Old Age, the Co-operative Department and Community Development)
• The District Administration Services
• The Government Printery

The attainment of Independence in 1962 served as a catalyst for the Organisation to focus on the following new services as dictated by the Constitution:

a) The Defence Force:

• The Trinidad and Tobago Regiment
• The Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard

b) The Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service

The Probation Department was removed from the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry was renamed the Ministry of National Security. The Ministry of National Security now included the following Divisions:

• General Administration
• Immigration Division
• Strategic Services Agency
• Trinidad and Tobago Cadet Force
• Trinidad and Tobago Forensic Science Centre
• National Emergency Management Agency
• Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force
• Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service
• National Security Council Secretariat
• Trinidad and Tobago Police Service
• Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service

The Joint Services Staff College was established in recognition of the need to upgrade the efficiency of the Protective Services in the context of the rapidly changing social and political environment and was added to the Ministry of National Security portfolio.

The Joint Services Staff College was removed from the Ministry of National Security.

Following the General Elections in 2010, the Ministry of Justice was established. The Trinidad and Tobago Forensic Science Centre was moved from under the Ministry of National Security to the Ministry of Justice in June 2010, followed by the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service in July 2012. Both Divisions returned under the Ministry of National Security in September 2015.