Dillon to launch national crime prevention programme

“Part of our Local Government reform is to strengthen our Municipal Police throughout the 14 Regional Corporations of Trinidad and the Tobago House of Assembly. We’ve already started the recruitment process for that...

In addition to that, we are also launching shortly a programme referred to as the NCPP. This would provide a direct nexus between the Ministry of National Security and the municipalities; what we call Community Councils, dealing with issues within the communities because we’ll have (direct communication). Therefore, we’ll be able to take certain kinds of initiatives to treat with situations.

More on that later on; I don’t want to go too much into detail because it will be launched soon.” Dillon previewed Government’s latest crime fighting strategy yesterday while speaking with reporters on the sidelines of a graduation ceremony for the Citizen Security Programme training course in Information and Communication Technology for residents of Sea Lots.

The six-month course was taught by staff at the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago, and it was at the college’s City Campus Student Centre on the corner of Dundonald Street and Fitzgerald Lane, Port-of-Spain, that the graduation ceremony was held.

Asked if he was concerned about the police yesterday fatally shooting 22-year-old Kendall Garcia, alias Sausage; one of the suspects in the June 27 double murder in Malabar, Dillon said, “Any kind of engagement with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) or other law enforcement agencies and the public will always be of concern to me but that is being dealt with by the Commissioner of Police.” Dillon was also asked about border security, in relation to Venezuela and the deteriorating economic situation there which has prompted thousands of Venezuelans to come to this country.

“The Coast Guard continues to work together with Venezuela’s Guarda Costa and Venezuelan National Guard. Some time ago, we re-established bi-lateral co-operation with the Venezuelans; to the extent where we had direct person- to-person contact between the Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard and the Commander of the Guarda Costa. In fact, the Commanding Officer of the Guarda Costa is due here some time next week for another one-to-one visit with his counterpart - the TT Coast Guard Commanding Officer.” “Additionally, we have tasked our Military Attaché in Caracas to go into the outlying areas; the places that are border to TT on the east coast of Venezuela, to give us a sense of what is happening in those coastal villages. So we are looking at tapping different sources.” Dillon told reporters that according to the latest report he’s received from Immigration officials, “between January and now, roughly 9,000 Venezuelans came into this country legally.

Of those, about 800 remain in TT.

“It seems to be a travel pattern as to those who come through the legal routes,” Dillon stated.