DOMA wants clarity on ZOSO Bill

The Down­town Own­ers and Mer­chants As­so­ci­a­tion has called for pub­lic clar­i­fi­ca­tion on the pro­posed Zones of Spe­cial Op­er­a­tion (ZOSO) leg­is­la­tion as mur­ders con­tin­ue across Trinidad and To­ba­go.

In a press re­lease, the group said that while da­ta in­di­cates im­prove­ment in law and or­der, se­ri­ous crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ty con­tin­ues. They cit­ed smashed shopfronts and bur­glar­ies in the Down­town City Cen­tre and gun­fire along the east-west cor­ri­dor.

DO­MA stat­ed, “Day by day there is a con­tin­u­a­tion of the sense­less loss of life, of par­ents killed in front of their chil­dren, of young men be­ing shot to death two and three at a time, of bod­ies strewn across main streets and road­ways in towns and cities in­clud­ing POS. It is hap­pen­ing re­peat­ed­ly and the gun­shots are al­most like a na­tion­al theme song to our cur­rent way of life.”

The group said long-term mea­sures must in­clude sup­port for young men and im­proved de­tec­tion, ar­rest and pros­e­cu­tion of of­fend­ers. It added that man­age­ment changes with­in de­tec­tion agen­cies re­quire dis­cus­sion.

In the short term, the As­so­ci­a­tion said im­me­di­ate ac­tion is re­quired. It stat­ed that vic­tims, in­clud­ing those from poor com­mu­ni­ties or with pri­or records, rep­re­sent hu­man life and must be pro­tect­ed.

The As­so­ci­a­tion said the pro­posed ZOSO may serve as a stop-gap mea­sure. It ques­tioned the re­jec­tion of the bill by in­de­pen­dent sen­a­tors and called for ex­pla­na­tion. It al­so asked Gov­ern­ment to clar­i­fy its po­si­tion on amend­ments pro­posed by the in­de­pen­dent bench.

It stat­ed, “We are of the view that its re­jec­tion by our in­de­pen­dent sen­a­tors has not been prop­er­ly ex­plained to the cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go. Like­wise, the re­luc­tance to of the Gov­ern­ment to make any amend­ments as pro­posed by the in­de­pen­dent bench al­so needs clar­i­fi­ca­tion and il­lu­mi­na­tion in pub­lic.”

The group called on in­de­pen­dent sen­a­tors to out­line their analy­sis and rec­om­men­da­tions in sim­ple lan­guage. It al­so asked Gov­ern­ment to state what com­pro­mis­es it is pre­pared to make.

The As­so­ci­a­tion urged par­lia­men­tar­i­ans to ex­plain their po­si­tions and to ad­dress na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty.