Our situation: Hopeless but not serious

THE EDITOR: I had confidently assumed that the primary reason for Senator Chin Lee’s appointment as Minister of National Security was that he would bring quickly to the Ministry, the latest in Information Technology, which is fundamental to achieving a high level of efficiency that has been poorly lacking in this field. After all, with his background, I would think he certainly ought to know more about IT than policing.

So where are we after his two years in the job? If we are to judge by the statement from the recently retired CoP that “the criminals are better equipped than the police,” then we are at ground zero. The reality is that the software exists, the hardware exists. What does not exist is the commitment. When we should be looking to hire bright IT trained youngsters for the Police Service, we are begging retired old men to come back to walk the streets. Old talk and more old talk. 2020? The criminals will achieve 2020 status in less than ten years. In the meantime we will continue to indulge in show business, window dressing and tv ops. I keep thinking more and more of those immortal words of a great Trini philosopher, who defines our political situation as “hopeless — but not serious.”

D JOHNSON
Cascade