After Carnival, what?

WITH concerted determination, the Police and Regiment were able to ensure that the streets of our cities and towns remained free of crime and violence during the two days of Carnival. Their strategic presence in, and their keen vigilance over the celebrations were largely responsible for keeping the criminal element at bay and suppressing potential acts of violence. Their combined effort was a noteworthy success having regard to the many robberies and violent incidents which marred the 2002 Carnival and all the rumours circulating about possible terrorist activity. However, both masqueraders and spectators told Newsday that they felt quite safe on the streets on Monday and Tuesday as they saw policemen and soldiers almost everywhere. It pleases us to know, also, that the hundreds of visitors and tourists who were lured to our shores by "the greatest show on earth" were able to enjoy themselves in a tension-free and all-embracing environment.

The strategy was also pro-active as Task Force officers mingled among Jouvert revellers and carried out random searches which resulted in the seizure of a quantity of weapons. In Port-of-Spain, 47 persons were arrested for possession of offensive weapons, four for arms and ammunition, six for having marijuana and two for obstructing the Police.Having scored that "victory" over crime and violence at Carnival, the two security services will now be expected to apply the same level of determination and commitment, the same spirit of co-operation, the same zero-tolerance approach and the same kind of joint strategy to deal with the crime problem on a national scale. Nobody, of course, expects the Police to maintain the same strength of officers, more than 4,000 on the streets or that  soldiers will be engaged in the same large numbers. But it is certainly expected that they would continue to concentrate on what Security Minister Howard Chin Lee describes as crime hot spots. In addition, it is important for the Police to maintain a quick-response presence in the commercial centres of Port-of-Spain and San Fernando and to expand their community policing programme.

Within recent times, a most vicious kind of crime has arisen in TT, that is the cold-blooded execution of persons by armed gangs who invade the home of their victims or gun them down in the open. The Police, it seems to us, have yet to make a breakthrough in solving these killings which apparently stem from the struggle by criminal factions to control some kind of turf or source of revenue. While law-abiding citizens may not be affected by this kind of violence, we cannot adopt an concerned attitude by saying, "Let the criminals kill off one another." e experience of other cities in the world is for gang warfare to expand and become a dangerous and endemic part of the crime scene.The Police must get at the root cause of these assassinations. While the country was enjoying a crime-free Carnival, two young men were shot to death in cold blood by armed gangs early on Tuesday morning. Clevon "Scrappy" Hamilton, 22, an NHA labourer of Morvant, was killed near his home while Jason Tinto, 22, a CEPEP worker of Spring View Drive, Petit Valley, was also riddled with bullets on the road not far from his home.These "executions" are clearly not random killings. The victims have been singled out for some reason and, if the Police are determined to rid the country of this kind of gang violence, they must first find out why as a base for their investigations.