Expressions of outrage

THE CRIME crisis in Trinidad and Tobago is frightening not simply because of the rising incidence of murder and robbery across the land but also because of the apparent impotence of the Government and the Police to curb the violence — inspite of a multitude of plans and proposals. To deal specifically with the menace, several police squads have been established, a special anti-crime unit has been appointed under Brigadier Peter Joseph, a new Minister of National Security has taken office, and a catalogue of tactical plans have been announced including joint army-police patrols, taking the fight to the criminals by raids and crackdowns, placing 1,000 more policemen on the streets, boosting the mobility of the police and setting up stations in crime ridden areas.        

The grim statistics, together with the mounting murder rate, are there to show that all these well-intentioned plans have failed and, in fact, may now be assuming, in the minds of a distraught citizenry, the status of ritual reactions to this deadly threat. The cold-blooded murder of acting Inspector Edward Williams, bodyguard of former President Arthur NR Robinson, at St Augustine on Tuesday night should serve not only to underline this failure and dramatise the brutality of the criminal element, but also to indicate that no one in our society, no matter how eminent or pedestrian, is immune or impervious to the savagery of the criminals.

As Police Commissioner Trevor Paul himself indicated, “If it were not for the brave work of acting Inspector Williams in confronting the bandits, we could have had an even bigger tragedy here tonight.”  The CoP was obviously referring to the fact that Williams apparently prevented the three bandits from raiding the home of Dr Marjorie Thorpe while she was entertaining a number of prominent persons, including the ex-President, to dinner. The armed assailants, after commiting a robbery on the East West corridor, decided to “hit” Dr Thorpe’s residence when they saw Robinson’s silver grey BMW parked in the driveway. They scaled an iron gate but were stopped from going any further by Williams who paid the price with his life. What would have happened if the bodyguard were not there? What would have happened if the gunmen were able to storm into the house during the dinner party?

Will this murder and its attendant implications now bring home to the Government and the Police the gravity of the problem the country faces? How could such a menace grow to such dreadful proportions in a country as small and as “modern” as ours? In our view, the authorities have failed in two vital areas. The first is the urgent need to reform a largely decrepit, lackadaisical, disinterested, uncommitted and inefficient police service, one that has, for the most part, lost a sense of its crime-fighting mission after decades of slackness due to a failure of discipline. With the failure to get the Police Reform Bills passed, the need to weed out the malingerers, install dedicated officers and create a new attitude and spirit in the service may now be well nigh impossible.

Secondly, the Police needs to have a penetrative system of intelligence such as the late Commissioner Randolph Burroughs had created, one that kept him in touch with much of the operations of the criminal underworld. Burroughs, because of his grass roots connections, had a cadre of informers whom he paid generously for information. Yesterday’s appointment of a Deputy Commissioner (Intelligence) must be a good move but if he is unable to develop that kind of penetration it would just be another futile effort. And all we would be left with are useless expressions of outrage.