Joseph: Evidence of bombings points in a certain direction

He added that Government would hopefully be in a position to say exactly who was responsible "in the not-too-distant future."

Speaking at the post-Cabinet news conference, shortly after the fifth bomb exploded yesterday, Joseph, who conceded that this bombing seemed to have different characteristics from the others, said Government had to "grab this (problem) immediately" because it did not want a copycat pattern to develop. "Those who are perpetuating this act must know that the best is here to go after them," he said, in reference to the imminent arrival of FBI experts in bombing device examination.

And Government, in an apparent attempt to go on the offensive on the whole crime issue, will be moving a motion in the Parliament on November 9 to combat crime.

Joseph said that insufficient information appeared to be reaching the public, which was not aware of the causes of crime and the measures being taken to fight it. He added that a full-fledged debate in Parliament would provide all MPs with the opportunity to comprehensively address the crime problem.

Joseph said Government was on target to bring in the security surveillance cameras for Port-of-Spain, San Fernando and all other urban areas by year end. He pointed out, however, that there was an infrastructure associated with the placing of such cameras.

In response to questions, Joseph said he was not aware of any legal questions or difficulties with the arrangements of having the FBI and Scotland Yard work in Trinidad and Tobago.

Reiterating that Trinidad and Tobago was not unique in terms of its crime situation, Joseph pointed to the successes of the US intervention in Colombia. Homicides, which peaked at 38,000 in 2002, were now down to 5,000, and kidnappings which peaked at 17,000 in 2001, were down to 600 today in that country.

He noted that this remarkable turnaround came after the US government provided a tremendous amount of assistance, including the training of law enforcement personnel. After that, a totally different approach was adopted by the judiciary in that country. "The point is that all stakeholders came together. But whenever we talk about stakeholders coming together, it is interpreted as another excuse," he lamented.

Joseph said Government has no difficulty with people demonstrating their disgust with what was happening in the country. "But the Government is doing a lot of things to improve the safety and security," he said.

He said FBI head Robert Mueller made two significant statements —that at the end of the day it is the law enforcement agency that must be up to the task; and that the community must get involved.

Told that witnesses were afraid to speak in this country, Joseph said people didn’t seem to understand that being in a witness protection programme required sacrifice. "You can’t want to lime on a Friday," he quipped.

He said another restraint was that people requested to be relocated to either the US, Canada or London, and not to a Caricom country, which was not always possible.

He also stated that the case management by the Judiciary had to be done in such a way that matters are heard expeditiously so that people are not left languishing in witness protection programmes.

Reiterating that the detection rate for homicides was unacceptable (16 percent), Joseph said the international consultants were able to pinpoint the weaknesses in the Homicide Division.