We can’t fight crime

In an apparent criticism of Prime Minister Patrick Manning, CLICO CEO Claudius Dacon used the occasion of the visit of former New York mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, to criticise those in authority who had met with so-called community leaders, who were actually suspected criminals. Dacon was speaking on Saturday at the Hilton Trinidad ahead of Giuliani’s address on “Understanding and Combating Crime — A Leadership Perspective for Difficult Times.” He began by saying that the past eight weeks in particular had shown him something “very troubling” was “deeply wrong” with the spirit of our freedom and the soul of our democracy. While previous generations had been scarred by the Black power riots of 1970 and the attempted coup of 1990, he said that for this generation the trauma would be caused by the recent spate of kidnappings and unchecked crime. “Criminals deprive us of peace of mind, faith, freedom, our notion of security. What has been happening in the last 12 months gives credence to my fears about the soul of the nation,” he said.

Even our much vaunted racial harmony, he noted, was in danger of being lost, as he urged each person to reach out to people across the ethnic and class divide to start a dialogue for all citizens to say that enough is enough. In an apparent reference to Manning, Dacon then chastised: “To who is leading the anti-crime efforts, we can’t court the criminal elements in some communities and elevate them to the position of community leaders.” His assertion brought huge applause from those present. He added: “They are thugs not community leaders, who are not respected but are feared in the community.” Revealing he was the father of three daughters, Dacon spent some time lamenting the spate of kidnappings, saying that as a parent his greatest fear was the possibility that his children would not return home safely. Dacon remarked: “The crime wave has changed our country and has changed us.” 

Former New York City Police Commissioner, Bernard Kerick, brought a message of hope, saying that before the tenure of Giuliani under whom he had served, people had said NYC could not be saved from crime. Kerick recalled: “They said NYC was impossible to manage. It was too big, too disorganised, there was too much crime, and it can’t be done. But Rudolph Giuliani didn’t think so.” The duo, he said, had proven the naysayers wrong. Kerick said: “Think back to 1994. The headlines said it was impossible. Now people are saying the same for Trinidad and Tobago, but nothing is impossible. I have lived it. The issues in Trinidad and in Guyana are 95 percent to 99 percent the same as New York, although the cultures are different. Crime reduction will work if you have the right leadership and right management programmes.”