Ways to combat crime in the country

THE EDITOR: Crime and more crime is the cry of the nation, be it the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce, the American Chamber of Commerce, the Down Town Merchants Association, the social and religious bodies, the academics, the columnists in the print media et al. But neither of these entities have come up with any or any veritable solution to the problem.

Indeed everybody seems to call firstly, on the Government and secondly on the Commissioner of Police. But who is the Government? The Government in constitutional terms is a group of people elected by the electorate as servants or agents of the people to manage their affairs. But who are these people? The people elected are called politicians —whatever that means. And what are their qualifications or expertise! Indeed many if not most of them have not even managed a ‘coal shop’ or ‘a parlour’ let alone managing their own finances or domestic affairs. But they are usually elected to manage the affairs of the nation involving billions of dollars of the resources of the people.

Is it any surprise therefore, that they are unable to curb crime, let alone the putting an end to it. Take the case of the escalation of kidnapping that have been plaguing and devastating the nation within recent times. The only solution that the current Government come up with is the introduction of the kidnapping bill which they no doubt hold out as the magical wand to put an end to kidnapping. But when the bill was introduced in Parliament it bristled with a litany of errors. But that’s what politicians are all about — incompetence. However, to prove that they are not incompetent they sought to attribute their incompetence to the Opposition. The Bill, however, has received widespread criticism from many quarters and more particularly from those learned in the law as well as sociologists and senators.

The overriding question for consideration is will the passing of more laws  really reduce the rising crime rate in the country. Indeed history will give a negative answer to this question. The other agent of Government to which the people turn for protection from the criminals is the police. But here again the question that arises is how efficient and competent is the police. One only has to listen to the outpourings of the nation on their fear and trepidation of the police and how incompetent they are; that they are the protectors of the major drug lords; that every village or district is flourishing with petit drug dealers and traffickers but citizens dare not report any one of them to the police since instead of pursuing the drug dealers, the informant would himself be subject to arrest for meddling in the affairs of the police and the drug dealers.

It is well known that the police are never on the scenes of crimes. Indeed they only appear when informed of the commission of a crime. It is clear therefore, that without informants the police will be hopeless. However, since the community fear the police and since there is clearly a total absence of trust and confidence in the police, is it any wonder that neither the Government nor the police have been able to grapple with the escalation of crime. That there are rogue police officers in the police service is without doubt. However, each day we hear the call from the Commissioner of Police for more money to manage the police service; that there are no vehicles for use by the police; that the Commissioner must be given a separate fund to manage the police service. But that is not all.

The Commissioner has been advancing solutions upon solutions to the crime problem but clearly incapable of implementing them. He seems to have all the answers to curb crime except implementing them. His public pronouncements on crime sound very impressive but fall short of effectiveness or promoting the efficiency of the service. Millions of dollars have been spend and continue to be spent on the purchase of vehicles for the police but that notwithstanding, the crime rate continues to haunt the nation. Indeed those vehicles soon find themselves in the motor vehicle graveyard. Does it make economic sense to continue to submit to the demands of the police without any corresponding benefits. What the country needs now more than ever, is more effective and dynamic management of the police service.

Trinidad and Tobago is but a little island with a population of approximately 1.3 million people. The criminal elements of this country do not come from Goodwood Park, or Fairways or West Moorings or Cascade or Haleland Park. Indeed it is not difficult to trace the address of those who come before the courts on serious charges. Such persons could easily be closely monitored by a vigilant police service and be apprehended with speed and dispatch. On the other hand Government should take cognisance of the need to identify the areas prone to producing criminals and take remedial steps to reconfigure the environment so that children in the area would not be the new criminals of tomorrow.

ERROL JOSEPH
Diego Martin