Lessons for solving the murders in TT

While homicide in TT has been increasing over the years, it has actually been decreasing in the US. More specifically, it dropped by almost 33 percent since 1990 in the US. For TT , the opposite took place from 1990 — it increased by over 300 percent.

In both TT and the US, homicides related to crimes of passion, as expected, were easier to solve while those related to gangs and organised crime were more difficult to solve as witnesses are scared to come forward. This is a massive problem in TT .

However, there is a more comprehensive witness programme in the US.

In that country, there are stark differences in the homicide clearance rate from state to state.

Some states have high rates, between 75 percent and 90 percent, while others have less than 30 percent. In TT , there are some differences between police divisions but none are as high as 75 percent though.

Research unveiled that in those areas where the homicide clearance rates were high — a good trend — it was not a costly exercise to get the job done. In fact, and importantly, there were two critical success factors that TT should seriously take note of: (1) trusting relationships with the locals and (2) good team work.

In TT , there is a growing problem with the level of trust and confidence by the population with members of the Police Service.

Urgent efforts are needed to rebuild what was there many years ago. With regard to teamwork, we are not too sure as to its extent in the Police Service.

Possibly, if it was strong, results would be better.

Interestingly, research found that the most costly part of solving homicides in the US was the payment for overtime work for investigators in the first 48 to 72 hours following the report of a homicide. This is the most critical time in solving such cases.

Are homicide investigators compensated similarly in TT ? Are they motivated to do all that they can in this three-day period? One of our closest neighbours, the US has been solving its murders and we can learn some important lessons without reinventing the wheel. While our legal and policing systems are different, there are certain common features that can work for us.

The time is ripe for the Police Service to do the necessary to rebuild the trust with citizens.

This will not occur overnight but it will bear fruit eventually. And then, the police are to ensure that effective teamwork is there to solve crimes in that critical two to four-day period where it matters the most. In other words, when all hands are on deck — community and Police Service — we will solve those murders which are almost two a day in 2017 thus far.

Ian Ramdhanie via email