WHEN WILL KILLINGS STOP?

Wednesday’s brutal slaughter of four human beings in Belmont pushed the year’s murder rate to 14, almost double that for the same period in 2004, and made it the bloodiest start to any year in the history of Trinidad and Tobago. The fact that the murder rate in most countries has soared within recent years, and what this country is experiencing is a worldwide phenomenon, does not make the horrific blood letting at home for 2005 any less uncomfortable. Neither, too, does the insistence by Police that most of the reported murders within recent years have been either gang or drug related. And if, for example, many indeed have been drug related or gang related, in the sense that these are by misguided young men seeking to reserve the “right” to be the sole suppliers of cocaine and marijuana in their “areas,” then what have the Police done about the situation? And, in turn, what are they doing about it?

We feel the need to ask these questions because all too often, immediately following on an unlawful killing Police officers have been able to describe it to reporters, and clearly with a degree of authority, that the alleged murder was drug related or gang related. For the Police to know in the “blink of an eye” that a murder was gang related then the Police must have been aware of the existence of the gangs concerned. While we appreciate that we cannot comment on specific alleged murders, as these may be sub judice, nonetheless, unnamed Police officers have been reported as having stated, mere hours after the incidents, that the reported murders of two young men, Kevin Bernard and Atiba David, who were allegedly shot and killed before dawn on Wednesday, were gang related. If the Police were able to elicit this information shortly after the men were fatally shot was it not possible for them to have obtained information on or leads to the identities of their alleged killers?

Is it that the individuals who provided the Police with the advice were not prepared to identify the reported killers for fear of victimisation? Did the Police have advance information that two gangs were warring? Do the Police not have a system in place by which they can infiltrate gangs and gather needed information critical to charges standing up in court? If the Police Service does not have this special Intelligence squad, admittedly the nature of which can pose an element of risk to the officers concerned, does it have any plans for its introduction? Periodically, the country has been told of the creation of special Police squads as well as joint Police/Army anti-crime units. The announcements often have been accompanied by highly publicised crackdowns.

Many Trinidad and Tobago residents — old, middle aged - and young — increasingly have been living in a state of relative unease. The discomfort is not lessened by arguments that the gangs are killing out each other. Instead, the at risk feeling increases, particularly with the knowledge that innocent bystanders can be and have been shot and sometimes killed. In turn, with respect to the drug related killings, what is being done by the Protective Services to rein in, not simply the small time hustlers, but the cocaine importers and the large drug distributors, whose reported massive profits are made by way of the trans-shipment trade to Europe and the United States of America.

Nonetheless, even though they may not handle the drugs physically themselves but leave that to distributors, other middlemen and hustlers, these importers of the drugs should be seen as directly and/or indirectly responsible for all of the drug related murders and many of the gang related killings which flow from the hustling of drugs. What are the special Police/Army squads doing about them? If we can deal effectively with the drug importers, and not merely cocaine but marijuana importers as well, and at the same time rid the country of its marijuana fields, then the murder rate, tied as it is to drug wars, undoubtedly will be substantially reduced. Realistically tackle the drug importers and/or trans-shippers and in the process the murder rate will be tackled as well.