Crime initiatives need strengthening

GOVERNMENT’S initiatives to deal with crime is not comprehensive enough. It needs strengthening or “beefing up.” That is the view of the Catholic Archdiocese which said the crime initiatives only address the symptoms of crime rather than the root causes. The plan involves the introduction of more police officers, a Gun Interdiction Unit and more road blocks. The church is calling for medium- and long-term strategies involving the entire society to deal with the crime wave, as well as a limited gun amnesty and a review of the Crime Stoppers programme. However the church doesn’t feel that a curfew is now an option since it would indicate that “we are giving up the streets to criminals when we need to reclaim the streets.” The reintroduction of corporal punishment in schools is also not an option to stem violence in schools, but rather there is the need for “a whole school approach to discipline.” At a press conference yesterday at the Catholic Communications Studios, Archbishop’s House, Port-of-Spain, a four-page statement which focused on three elements — the spiritual, educational and social justice issues — to deal with crime was delivered by Leela Ramdeen, the chairperson for the Catholic Commission for Social Justice.

Archbishop Edward Gilbert said the Archdiocese felt the fundamental issue in crime was a spiritual and value problem, which could not merely be addressed by prayers. He said the Church, on a spiritual level, had assigned on a full-time basis a priest and deacon to the Laventille/Morvant area in an effort to increase the visibility of the Church. Additionally, 50 members of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) are working out of the Laventille RC School for the vacation period to help members of the community feel safer. Three priests have also been assigned as chaplains to work with the TTDF based on the request by the TTDF. He said a closer relationship had to be developed between the Church and the protective services. The Archbishop also announced that a day of prayer was planned by the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) for September. Asked if he felt Government was doing enough to fight crime, Gilbert said they were making a valiant effort but stressed that the real culprit of crime was the “disintegration of values”. He however said that the upsurge in crime was “going beyond the minimum that the police force is designed to deal with.” He noted that when he was recently appointed Archbishop, there were dozens of people liming around the Savannah between 8.30 and 10 pm, but now by 8.30 pm, the place is deserted. He advised that Government needed to stop “going from the top down” to deal with crime, but to involve the grass roots people because that was where the “decay was evident.”

As for a message to criminals, the Archbishop said “bad guys don’t pray” and therefore he supported a structured approach to dealing with crime where prayers are matched with social action and planning. He said from his interaction with the people of Laventille/Morvant, the community was afraid with a fragmented community and disordered lives. Ramdeen in her statement said the Church was deeply concerned about the escalating crime situation and outlined several suggestions. They included “anti-crime programmes at national, community and institutional levels, a gun amnesty for a limited period, addressing issues of poverty, employment, housing, health and education, reviewing of the Crime Stoppers initiative and raising the level of confidence of the public in the Police Service.” Ramdeen said there needed to be an increased response to reports of crime and a police service “which demonstrates integrity, professionalism, fairness and compassion.” She noted that there was indiscipline which needed to be restored in many areas of life and identified several areas which needed urgent attention in reducing crime: family life needed rebuilding, the school system needed reviewing, more “neighbourly society” and a greater role by the media.