Perspectives

MEMBERS OF the business community inclusive of the Chamber used the recent opportunity by Minister Martin Joseph to introduce the 555 line to it for the purpose of discussing with him and Assistant Commissioner Maurice Piggott, Government’s rate of progress in addressing the challenge of spiraling crime.

It was indeed refreshing to find a welcome ear in Mr Piggott for our suggestion that his Ministry brief community groups more frequently on this topic in order to allay the fears, inspire their confidence and dispel any rumours or misinformation about the management of crime.

On the subject of kidnappings the minister disclosed that the Incident Co-Ordinating Centre, of which the public was recently notified in a recent media advertisement, was assisting him and the police to put some sort of handle on this crime, while the Anti-Kidnapping Unit was seeking to proactively prevent it, wherever possible.

The Chamber also learnt about a different dimension in the continuing challenges presented by deportees to Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago who now seem to have cultivated a network with their local counterparts.

We detected some dissatisfaction with the lack of cooperation from countries deporting them to provide information to the Governments of final destination until the very last minute, thus, making it even more difficult for the receiving country to put in place whatever measures were appropriate to deal with the many deportees.

The Chamber is of the view that in the event some legislative process is necessary to address this grave situation, and which provides for the proper recording of the arrival and whereabouts, as well as an obligation upon them to report to law enforcement agencies on a frequent basis, the exchange of information and denial of bail for any subsequent offence; that this will be introduced in Parliament with the utmost despatch, failing which the challenge of dealing with crime will merely be even more difficult.

Minister Joseph indicated that the rate of homicides is used as a general gauge to measure the success of law enforcement and gave the homicide figures of 146 and 163 for the months of January to May, 2005 and 2006 respectively, following statistics for the following months of January to May, 2005 and 2006 respectively.

If we are to believe the minster, Trinidad and Tobago, like Friday’s child, has far to go, especially when we recall the rate of homicides in March of this year. On a more positive note, Assistant Commissioner Piggott disclosed that 85 persons have been identified by the Homicide Working Group and the Homicide Bureau of Investigations for prosecution in the course of attempts to solve the latter homicides. He indicated that members of these two units include full-time attorneys-at-law, staff from the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Judiciary respectively, the objective being to acquire convictions of those persons by means of evidence taken from the crime scene which is both credible and admissible in our Courts. We again make the point that it is extremely difficult for the Chamber to understand how all of this may be easily achieved without the amendments to the DNA Act and a fully resourced Forensic Science Centre, two of the continuous recommendations of the Organisations Representative of the Private Sector in Trinidad and Tobago (ORPSTT).

Speaking of resources, minister Joseph responded to the complaint about dilapidated police stations and the need for new ones by saying that a parcel of land had been identified for the relocation of the St Joseph station and that construction would take 12-18 months, the slow pace at which replacement is proceeding has been blamed on a lack of local capacity.

In our opinion, UDeCOTT and Government have, to a very great extent, contributed to this lack of local capacity and it appears to the Chamber that if the priorities for construction in the public sector have to be adjusted downwards to allow for the construction and refurbishment of police stations, the continually spiraling rate of crime justifies such adjustment.

The Chamber trusts that the Ministry of National Security will be open, transparent and accountable for all activities within the portfolio. In that respect, we note the information about the grounded blimps, to the effect that one is the subject of ongoing discussions in an effort to find solutions to the difficulties currently experienced with it and, in the case of the other, the lease had expired. Consequently, the ministry has decided to purchase a new airship for $15 million after receiving a discount of $12 million representing the trading price for the first blimp.

Hopefully, this and the foregoing disclosures by minister Joseph and his team will the be the dawn of a new ear in communication taking the public into his confidence between the Government and the public. Don’t be surprised that this disturbs the confidence of criminal elements and turns out to be the cheapest weapon in the war against them.