That old loud sound

Large swathes of the population will hugely appreciate any curbing of the usual sonic mayhem, such as having a 1 am final cut-off time on discharge, or doing so well away from people’s homes. While in theory we fully empathise with one group’s call for a “Night of Total Policing” to curb excessive noise-making, in practice the police simply cannot be everywhere, due to manpower constraints. But we urge them yet to do their best to address any worst cases where illegal use of fireworks cause discomfort.

The police must focus especially on curbing the use of scratch-bombs or firecrackers whose sole purpose is to create a sonic boom, that causes a shock to the human nervous system.

In this crime-ridden nation, this boom is too akin to a gunshot to go unchecked.

For far too long the police have failed to respond to complaints by residents of illicit noise-making, thus leaving the impression of lawless anarchy and police impotence. At present under the Summary Offences Act sections 99 to 101 it is illegal to let off fireworks on any street without a permit from the Police Commissioner or a police superintendent, the penalty being a $1,000 fine for within a town and $400 for outside towns. Further to Public Administration Minister, Maxie Cuffie’s anti scratch-bomb campaign, we suggest fresh legislation soon to recognise that different types of fireworks exist, such as the three categories we have earlier suggested, with scratch-bombs/firecrackers being singled out for special extra scrutiny.

Given the huge public outcry over this festering wound of the firecracker menace, it could well be time for Parliament to craft a “Fireworks Act” as an umbrella Act to tie together sections of the Summary Offences Act and Explosives Act, all updated to recognise the particular nuisance posed by scratch-bombs and firecrackers.

In future, the police and Customs officers must be more proactive to stem the scratch-bomb trade as close to source as possible, tackling firstly, the illicit importers, with further drilling down the supply-chain to retail outlets, and then finally the end-users.

The police in practice and politicians in legislation must decide how to best regulate the time and place at which legal fireworks can be discharged. For example, under the Summary Offences Act could the police grant blanket approval for discharges at community green-spaces/recreation fields located away from houses, between restricted hours wit a definitive end time? Perhaps in future, the grant of import licences could be restricted to just a new type of noiseless fireworks, that provide stunning visuals without any attendant noise. Meanwhile we hail Cuffie for his initiative against scratch-bombs - coming after his constituent, Sally-Ann Cuffie, lost her fingers to a miscreant’s scratch-bomb - plus the advocacy of online groups such as “Regulating the Use of Fireworks in TT” and several animal-rights groups. The deaths of 31 persons a week ago in an explosion at a Mexican fireworks market further underlines the need for TT to firmly address the fireworks issue. Meantime, let tonight be for Auld Lang Syne and not the old loud sound of the scratch bomb.