Senator begs for new technology for police

FOUR months after the kidnapping and murder of his son, UNC Senator Nizam Baksh is calling for modern technology to be used by police to fight crime and has expressed frustration at the slow pace of the investigation. Baksh said since the murder, the police had “nothing substantial” to tell him about their investigations. The police however assured him that the matter “will not rest,” but would be “pursued vigorously.” The murder of Ashmead Baksh came up during yesterday’s sitting of the Joint Select Committee (JSC) enquiring into and reporting on the municipal corporations and services commissions, when they met with Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul, and his management team in the Parliament Chamber of the Red House. Questioning the CoP, Baksh said having been a direct victim of crime, and based on his experience dealing with the police, he wondered if they were still “toothless bull dogs.”

He said it was very rare that top officers visited crime scenes and suggested that it be changed. He also added that the police were not sufficiently equipped with modern technology to fight crime which left them “handicapped in a number of areas.” Baksh said since his son’s kidnapping and subsequent murder four and a half months ago, the police had “nothing substantial to tell me,” even though there are suggestions that the killers are known. “A lack of training and technology lead to a lack of information to find the criminals,” said Baksh. He pointed out that several coded calls were made to his son’s business and cell phones, and at least four of these calls “tied in with the timing of certain information,” but yet the police had difficulty in getting a print out of the calls from TSTT. He said the codes could be broken if the relevant technology was made available.

Baksh also voiced his concern about the perceived “lack of co-ordination” of the police divisions, saying with every new officer he spoke to, he had to “walk through the situation all over again.” Baksh said the level of competency in dealing with crime was also way behind and called for the police to be “proactive” or they might as well change the Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Crime units to “After Kidnapping and After Crime.” In reply, ACP Crime, James Philbert,  assured Baksh he himself had visited the scene where Ashmead’s body was found. He said the investigations were ongoing and promised that al-though there were difficulties, “it will not rest.” On the question of the use of modern technology, Philbert said the types of technology available to the police could not be discussed in public “but we are moving ahead.” Philbert said the police were also having problems with “clone phones,” but the matter was being pursued vigorously. He explained the reason why every officer visiting the scene had to interview Baksh, was due to the fact that every investigator had his own personal style.