SECURITY OVERHAUL

After an opening statement by Minister Dillon, who reiterated Government’s concern with high levels of crime in the country and its commitment to tackling the problem in a coordinated, multi-faceted approach involving all arms of National Security, it was the turn of AG Al-Rawi to take centre stage.

He said the Office of the Attorney General had taken a number of initiatives with the relevant stakeholders to overhaul the criminal justice system and deal with issues such as unclogging a massive backlog of cases (both at the High Court and Magistrates Court levels) some dating back to 17 and 20 years ago and the establishment of a Criminal DNA Register, to aid in crime detection and solving. “One recalls the Piarco Airport preliminary inquiry (PI), which is the major case of fraud in Trinidad and Tobago. We are now in the 17th year in that PI, and we have not yet gone to the High Court, or the Court of Appeal, let alone the Privy Council,” he said. A mapping exercise at the Judiciary on how to deal with the backlog of cases has been productive, Al Rawi said. “We are nearly finished mapping the entire backlog of cases at the High Court which will be available by the end of this month.”

DNA DATABASE According to Dillon, Government recently employed a DNA custodian who will be taking up his position at the end of this month. The custodian, he said, will be the prime mover at the DNA bank which is part of the detection pillar, one of four strategies in the fight to reduce the murder rate and serious crimes.

Al-Rawi, Dillon and Williams yesterday all signalled that this year, the aim is to reduce serious crimes, more particularly murders, through enhanced prediction, deterrents, detection, and prosecutions.

Al-Rawi said that the DNA register “will start with taking the DNA samples and putting onto the data base the entire prison population, and also allowing for the DNA sampling of law for arrestees, so that forensic evidence from a DNA basis will be available.” The recent strangulation of school girl Rachael Ramkissoon, he said, “is at present confined to evidence which may perhaps best be led from a DNA basis. There will be traces. Having a proper DNA functioning register gives us a better chance at detection, prosecution and conviction, because the evidence will be available.” See Page 5A Within the last 15 months, Al-Rawi said, his office was in a joint mapping exercise to determine the road blocks in the local criminal justice system, with teams from the Judiciary, criminal bar, law association, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Office of the Commissioner of Police, Office of the Commissioner of Prisons and the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority, a criminal justice advisor provided by the governments of which the United Kingdom and Canada to assist TT.

Coming out of this exercise are initiatives, he said, that will improve the management of prosecutions, clearing of backlog of cases for the Judiciary, the provision of manpower for agencies that have been understaffed such as the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the operation of the electronic monitoring system.

POLICE PLAY CRITICAL ROLE While some staffing has been identified for the office of the DPP by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, Al-Rawi said, they will only be able to improve on five percent of the prosecutions, as the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) plays a critical role in this drive and is responsible for 95 percent of all prosecutions. Prosecutions through the TTPS, he said, “has been a significant area of concern and inspection.” Government will take to the Parliament, hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, he said, legislation for the elimination of preliminary inquiries, for defendants to be tried by judges only, and for the improvements to the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority that will create a public defenders system.

The elimination of PIs will enable cases going directly to the High Court or the magistrates’ courts.

Provisions will also be made for amendments to the Evidence Act to allow for the provision of anonymous witness to give evidence and for the protection of witness at risk.

In other areas, he said, the AG’s office will also be providing the TTPS with lawyers to work alongside investigators so that cases are ready at the beginning of the prosecution process and not later in the process.

“This is earmarked to be implemented alongside the operationalising of the Criminal Procedure Rules,” which he said, are due to come into effect in April.

That will mean that prisoners brought to the courts will not be sent back without matters being heard in any meaningful way. Instead there will sanctions applied by the Judiciary for failure by counsels to represent their clients.

“The Judiciary is currently in a training exercise with the criminal bar to ensure this happens,” he said. This model is what will lead to improvements in the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority creating the Public Defenders Department. Defendants, whose preferred lawyers do not turn up in court and having their matters adjourned for years, will be given the choice of having a counsel to represent them.

“If your attorney is not available, on the occasions which the court has provided for your counsel to appear, you will be provided with a public defender. That means that trials move ahead,” he said.