News
Crime scene investigators at the scene of a murder along Nelson Street, Port of Spain on June 9. – Photo by Roger Jacob
MINISTER of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds said public concerns about crime were being heard and responded to, as he addressed a briefing at his ministry on July 22, held jointly with police service DCP (Operations) Junior Benjamin. He said crime was on everyone’s heart including perpetrators.
“It is generating a lot of trauma, a lot of fear,” Hinds said. The latest murder count was 332, he said, with people “very traumatised” especially by murders and home invasions.
“I come to you today knowing if I do not speak to you the country, there is some criticisms about that.
“If I do speak you will analyse every word I say, every dot, every comma, every tee and there will be criticism about that.” He said it was his duty to address the nation.
“The public has been saying in one way or the next, ‘Do something about crime! Do something!
“As a government we keep a very open mind, open ears, and we listen to the cries of the people. We listen to any suggestions that might come and they are not in short supply in TT.”
The Government receives correspondence from people and follows newspaper commentaries.
“And we hear this resounding cry, ‘Do something! Do something!'”
He said the Government does in fact do something.
“Sometimes the recommendations that come are so valuable you examine them far more deeply, you implement them where you can.”
He said some suggestions might not be novel, while others may be deemed “outrageous,” relative to TT’s Constitution.
Of the latter, was a call by some people for TT to follow the anti-crime measures of El Salvador where Hinds said imprisonment could be done on the word of the police or a neighbour, or on the basis of one wearing certain gang tattoos.
“That is anathema to us. It is outrageous in the context of the very stable, democratic, civilised operation that we do here.”
Saying the Government did in fact do things, he cited the seamless education system from nursery to primary to secondary to tertiary
“We have the Milat programmes. The Ministry of Youth Development is rolling out a plethora of development programmes. We do!”
Benjamin expected a new police strategy to bear fruit, with actions being intelligence-led and evidence-based and technology-driven.
“There is a framework that guides us in terms of the strategies we use.”
He said from July 14-21, the police succeeded in 569 exercises, 263 people arrested, and 15 firearms seized including three AR15 rifles.
“We had at least 604 rounds (bullets) also seized, 4,441 grammes of marijuana and 513 grammes of cocaine.” Some 1,269 fixed penalty notices were issued and 4,235 stop and search forms filled out.
However, he lamented a rise in road deaths from 52 last year to 59 this year.
Benjamin said in their road blocks, the police had sought priority offenders. He said this was in-your-face policing.
“We had a situation where in one vehicle we had 176 rounds of 5.56 ammunition.
“As the police go out there, we are looking at targeted operations to deal with the crime situation.”
He reviewed a nationwide police operation on July 18-19.
“We can account for 148 exercises, in which 113 persons were arrested, seven firearms were found and also 387 rounds were seized.
“We had at least 1,358 stop-and-searches, and at least 464 fixed-penalty notices issued on that particular day.”
He said the result was a great success.
Benjamin hoped the police could more engage the general public and business community against crime.
Hinds recalled eight searches done at prisons nationwide which he said had resulted in the seizure of 1,549 grammes of marijuana, 43 improvised weapons and 94 cellphones. Several prison officers have been charged with carrying in contraband, he said, saying this all contributed to crime outside of prison.
