STAKEHOLDERS have welcomed Erla Christopher's appointment as TT's new Commissioner of Police and the first woman in the country's history to fill the seat of top cop.

But they warn that she will have some tough times ahead in not only attempting to rebrand the image of the Police Service but in minimising the fear of crime among a citizenry desperate for solutions.

On Friday, Christopher was unanimously approved by the Parliament as the country's next Commissioner of Police.

Criminologist Prof Ramesh Deosaran said Christopher assumes the position at 'a very critical time' in the country given the state of public fear.

'It is not only the statistics but the epidemic of public fear of crime with the mounting increase not only in murders, which crossed 600 last year, but the increasing number of home invasions,' he told Sunday Newsday.

'So this means the right to private property is being severely attacked in a society that is supposed to be democratic. It means, therefore, that this new commissioner would have to save the democracy of the country in specific ways - the first being to remove the widespread fear in the public mind because with that fear, all other freedoms and rights will diminish.'

Deosaran said Christopher's task will not just be to 'look at statistics and hold meetings in Port of Spain headquarters,' but to help restore and maintain the challenges of democracy in the country.

Apart from that, he said, Christopher must address two specific areas simultaneously.

Deosaran said she has to look at the human resource capacity with the Police Service, specifically the efficiency and effectiveness of its middle managers - sergeants and inspectors.

'Middle management has been lacking. So they have to improve their performance and she has to demand further accountability at that middle level, otherwise she will face the brunt of public criticism whereas she doesn't deserve it in the sense that the others lower down have not been doing their job properly.'

Deosaran, a former independent senator and former chairman of the Police Service Commission, said Christopher also has to generate a new system for community policing.

Saying she must spend some time doing leg work, he said, 'The idea of having a commissioner walking around with big gun, AK-47, and everyday in the newspapers, those days are finished. It has to have a more modernised management at the top and that means she has to look at getting solid, sustainable partnerships with the various communities.'

For example, Deosaran said the crime situation in far-flung, rural areas such as Toco would be different from that of Diego Martin, or even Couva and Cedros.

'She has to have a more specific approach to strategic planning in terms of public safety.'

He argued that without citizens' support at the community policing level and responses to support policing by citizens, police performance will not reach the heights that they expect.

'In democratic policing, which I am talking about, the partnership between the citizens and the