TT crime under control — but murder rate up

Police Commissioner Everald Snaggs made it clear yesterday that there is no group in Trinidad and Tobago which can cause any terror to the security forces in this country. He reiterated that the security forces are equipped to deal with any situation, and added that intelligence gathering has improved tremendously. The Commissioner also dismissed newspaper reports that several top officials recently received death threats from a Muslim organisation. He was adamant that no reports about threats involving top officials reached his office or are engaging the attention of the police. With respect to a series of bomb threats, especially in Port-of-Spain, the Commissioner said that special measures are being put in place to deal with hoax calls.

He implored the public to desist from making prank calls. In delivering his address at the Initiatives For Public Safety and Public Order, organised by the Ministry of National Security, the Commissioner boasted that crime statistics revealed an overall decrease in wounding and shootings, violent crimes, serious indecency, kidnappings, robberies, fraud and narcotic offences. He admitted that the murder rate has, however, increased by 5.3 percent. Up until yesterday, 100 persons were murdered for the year. The Commissioner added that three key factors which provide for the measure of success are improved intelligence gathering, heightened police visibility and greater Inter-Agency collaboration.

He also revealed that the Anti-Kidnapping Unit was strengthened to cope with the level of activities, and the Firearm Interdiction Unit has been a success story. During the period December 1, 2003 to May 10, 2004, 154 firearms and 1,287 rounds of ammunition were seized. Snaggs noted that in terms of visibility, criminal hotspots in each police division were subjected to 24-hour foot and mobile patrols, accounting for a total of 45,893 patrols. Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier Ancil Antoine said that the Defence Force continues to focus its main effort on enhancing the national anti-crime effort.

He spoke of increased foot and mobile patrols, increased patrolling during the Carnival season, joint operations with the police, Coast Guard and customs, resulting in significant narcotics, arms and ammunition seizures, Head of the Anti-Crime Unit, Brigadier Peter Joseph, said that his unit was given a Government mandate to provide a coordinated and effective response to disrupt criminal activity of national significance such as kidnapping, extortion, gang warfare, organised crime and terrorism.

“We are at our operational effectiveness at around 70 percent and there is still some front-end work to be done, particularly in the areas of equipping and resourcing the Unit for the missions that lie ahead,” said Brigadier Joseph. He revealed that the unit has invested significantly in the technology necessary to take the business of crime fighting into the future, with the aim of not only catching up to the criminals, but getting ahead of them.