Everything to gain from Giuliani

The Editor: Since the Giuliani Crime Reduction proposal for Trinidad and Tobago  was submitted, it has appeared that all of a sudden a few critics know everything there is to know about what Giuliani cannot do and have become totally versed  in criminology, upon which they have been voicing their concern about this plan. Thankfully they are in the minority, since the majority of the Trinidad and Tobago people have seen the bigger picture and that this is  the best opportunity at this time to reduce crime, as they realise that we have everything to gain and nothing to lose. I have  listened to the many pros and cons about the proposal, so I wish to educate the doubting individuals accordingly;

1. To keep road marching the ridiculous statement that we do not need foreign expertise to reduce crime, since “it is our country  and society, so  we know what to do,” is both a sad and comical statement. If we knew what to do, we would have done it, so let us accept the fact and realise that we do not know how to deal with the crime problem.
When we recently imported kidnapping and corruption experts, how come their voices were not heard then? It is obvious that these individuals have not felt the trauma of crime upon themselves or their family as yet, so they see the need to criticise the limited  options available to us. Now is not the time for pride to get in the way when our very lives are at risk.

2. There is no such thing as a New York crime and a Trinidad crime. Crime is crime. Ask the US deportees who did not waste time since and, as stated by the Government, have continued their crime spree immediately upon return to their homeland. Hence the other ridiculous statement that Giuliani could only deal with crime in New York is ludicrous. Crime is a product of opportunity, and once you utilise technology and proper data involving crime, then effective crime reduction measures can be implemented, so that this crime opportunity will be greatly reduced and the appropriate  deterrents will then be implemented to  minimise crime.

3. Mexico City’s crime concerns are similar to ours, and they accepted 146 proposals from Giuliani Partners, which did not just include reducing crime, but also in reducing road fatalities, ensuring large and small organisations have the appropriate policies in the eventuality of a natural or man-made disaster, improving the efficiency and effectiveness throughout the protective services such as decreasing the time taken for the Fire Service to arrive at fire scenes and to ensure better performance, and having better rehabilitative systems in the penal establishment.

4. Rudy Giuliani did not beg to come to Trinidad and Tobago. As a concerned citizen, I noticed a crime concern in Trinidad, and on behalf of  several prominent and well respected persons in the country (on both sides of the political fence) after the recent Giuliani conference , I simply asked for the company to forward a proposal, which would have been to the benefit of this country.
Rudy Giuliani is constantly involved in speaking engagements throughout the world dealing with leadership and crime reduction, more recently Russia, Australia and Colombia, so he did not come “begging” Trinidad and Tobago for a job as has been stated. He has a service which we desperately require, so he was then asked if he was available and to submit a proposal, upon which he did.

5. For those who all of a sudden have become quite versed in criminology, Giuliani has not yet stated what needs to be done, so how can you say his proposals will not work? Unlike what we have been doing which is giving crime reduction ideas by perception and gut feeling, he utilises the COMSTAT programme, which records every crime issue, upon which law enforcement resources can be utilised more effectively. This includes social issues.  One cannot implement crime reduction issues of a social nature by perception, because National Security resources are scarce. Our soldiers and police are tirelessly on patrols to assist us, but how long can they keep it up ? You need to know which are the critical social issues upon which the social resources can then be pointed in that direction. The British Crime Survey for example interviews 40,000 convicts annually to discover their reason for turning to crime, upon which it is realised that the main social issues are either unemployment, drugs, abuse, education etc. The resources of the state are then prioritised to deal with these needs.

6. Selwyn Cudjoe recently mentioned a racially related incident, whereby a Haitian national was severely assaulted by the NYPD. There are over 50,000 policemen in New York. During Giuliani’s term as Mayor, there were over 100,000 recruited in all, and each officer dealt personally with the public on no less than 100 occasions. To state that one isolated incident in ratio to over ten million, and judge a force as being racist is as ridiculous as one could get. Rudy Giuliani coming or not is not the main issue. It is that some of us must get out of our tunnel-visioned mentality and accept the fact that we have a serious problem that is affecting the most fundamental right of the Trinidad and Tobago people, which is that of freedom. Other matters such as if it is a PNM or UNC proposal, if a “foreigner” needs to come and solve our main problem, or even the necessity for constitutional reform are secondary compared to this problem. So to those who continue to criticise, stop telling us what cannot work, and let us know what can. We should consider ourselves fortunate to acquire his services at this time and start working together to reduce crime, because in the meantime the criminals are laughing their heads off when we continue to attack each other and each initiative offered  to defeat them.

Captain Gary Griffith
Port-of-Spain