Group supports crime legislation

A CRIME-fighting community group has assured Prime Minister Patrick Manning that it is in full support of Police Reform Legislation (PRL). Communities Mobilising Against Crime (CMAC), told the Prime Minister: “We recognise that the entire country needs to be mobilised in support of the PRL and that constituents of each constituency must pressure their Members of Parliament to support the Bills.  CMAC supports and is willing to be part of that process.”

The assurance was given during a meeting at Whitehall last Friday between the Prime Minister and a delegation from the CMAC. The delegation comprised Anthony Franklyn, former Chief of Defence Staff (Chairman); Anthony Rahael, a former President of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association; Marie Gurley and Naz Khan, two private citizens. CMAC is a faith-based community organisation founded in the predominantly Roman Catholic Parish of St Finbar. During the Whitehall meeting, the Prime Minister provided the CMAC with a comprehensive outline of government’s crime-fighting initiatives, including Police Reform Legislation.

The Prime Minister presented the process through which the legislation was formulated, the agreements made by the Peoples’ National Movement and the United National Congress in support of the legislation and the critical importance of the legislation in creating a more efficient, professional and better resourced police service that can effectively win the war against crime. Manning also emphasised the role that the national community must play in ensuring that the Opposition supports the Police Reform Legislation.

He made it clear that the government was engaged in an all out war against cime. “We are in the process of implementing several crime fighting initiatives, all of which are based on using state of the art technology. “These initiatives will have a serious deferring impact on criminal activity, including kidnapping, illegal firearms and the drug trade. “But the time has come for the nation to demand from the Opposition that they do what is right and fair in the interest of our nation’s security, and support the Police Reform Legislation,” said Manning.