Holistic plan vital in fight against crime

With a low detection rate for murders and with unenforced laws, these criminals reign supreme.

As citizens, our helplessness has now been converted to hopelessness.

Our grief has now been converted to outrage. With each passing day, a daughter or a son, a brother or a sister, a mother or a father becomes our latest statistic. Our silent yet deafening screams are yet to be heard by the Government.

Crime is a difficult challenge for any government. It takes a holistic plan, tackling all angles directed towards the problem. This plan must deal with the overburdened legal system, bureaucratic resistance to change, high levels of unemployment throughout the marginal constituencies, disenfranchised and unskilled youth, the easy accessibility to weapons, the negative effect of gangs and their organised criminal activities, the lack of faith in the transparency of the Police Service, all coupled with the economic constraints of a socalled recession.

Clearly, the three “bosses” heading the ministry in charge of TT ’s security, Major General (retired) Edmund Dillon, Senator Dennis Moses and Parliamentary Secretary Glenda Jennings- Smith, have failed.

They have failed to create an environment which ensures public safety and security. They have failed to make any dent on crime. They have failed to deliver on the PNM’s promise to the citizenry to eradicate and alleviate organised criminal activity.

They have failed.

The actions of the Speaker on December 9 in the Parliament only sought to further display the gross neglect and disregard for matters of urgency affecting the people of this country. The ejection of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar from the House of Representatives is a rejection of all law-abiding citizens from the national equation. The message sent was that the FATCA Bill is more valuable than the 1.3 million lives in TT .

Politics has overshadowed any effort of a collaborative approach among parliamentarians from both sides of the political divide to address the issue of spiralling crime and missing people in TT .

Desperate times call for desperate measures. A Rodrigo Duterte (President of the Philippines) approach may be our only option to take back our country. With over 450 murders to date this year and no plan from the Government, the tidal wave of blood and terror may soon drown out all of our screams for help.

Varsha Sankar via email