Will 1000 more help?

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday announced new and immediate measures to deal with the crime problem, among them being the decision to deploy 1000 additional police officers to patrol the streets of the country. According to National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee, this move will increase the visibility of law enforcement officers throughout Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, there will be a "proliferation of mobile police posts." Four are already on the way and 20 are in the process of procurement. "You will soon be seeing a greater presence of police with greater levels of instantaneous response to calls for assistance from the public," the Minister assured.

On the face of it, this new initiative to deploy more policemen on the streets and to set up mobile posts across TT may well have some deterrent effect on criminal activity in the country. As one letter writer to Newsday who had advocated such an increase said, "more policemen on the beat, more eyes on crime." So the Minister's announcement should be welcomed by TT's law-abiding citizens who are now saying that "enough is enough" and, as Mr Chin Lee himself noted, are demanding from the government swift and decisive action. Our reaction to these measures, however much we may want to support them, is to wonder where Mr Chin Lee is going to find 1000 additional policemen almost overnight to augment the street patrols. After all, police officers are professionals who are specially selected and undergo many months of training before they graduate onto the job. Since they cannot be created by the wave of a magic wand, the "additional 1000" officers will then have to be drawn from the present establishment of the Service which employs some 6,000 personnel. And since it is well known that about one third of the "force" are always on leave, that leaves a total of 4000 policemen from whom the "additional 1000" will have to be extracted. When this is done, what, we wonder will be the impact on the manpower of police stations across the country which are already badly understaffed? What the country may now be facing is the fact that even now the Police Service is inadequate in terms of numbers, equipment and mobility. President of the South Chamber of Industry and Commerce Wayne Mose told Newsday on Tuesday that "the police are under-equipped and we need more skilled policemen."

Mr Mose reflects a view already expressed by former Commissioner Guy when he says that "people are being taught to commit crime with the newest technology, while at the same time the Police are using outdated technology. Therefore we have a problem right away." The South Chamber President also makes a kindred point to a view we have expressed when he suggests that the use of forensic science and criminology should be more prominent in our fight against crime. Earlier we had argued that while "visibility" may be useful, while increasing police-army patrols may have some deterrent effect, our Police needed to be more penetrative or more "skillful" in terms of gathering intelligence information from the criminal underworld even if it means using bribes, monetary rewards or other inducements. This is a well-known crime-fighting stratagem used by Police personnel all over the world. Former Commission Randolph Burroughs used it effectively to deal with leading criminals and so-called freedom fighters. Also, many will find it strange that in a small country like ours and in a small area such as Laventille, criminal activity, kidnappings and gang warfare could develop into such a murderous affair with the Police remaining apparently mystified as to who are the culprits. What really is going on? Will the additional 1000, if they could be found, help? Let us wait and see.