Measures to cut crime

In every society where crime is low there are commonalities.

These include employment and sporting activities to engage the youths, structured regular police patrols, quick uncompromising justice and a healthy private sector business environment.

In TT , policing is generally reactive where police at the stations react to reports of crime. That needs to change to proactive structures with scheduled defined patrols in every community.

The judicial system must offload most of the present cases that are burdening the system for years. As such, cases over ten years should be dismissed or subject to immediate mediation. Plea bargaining ought to be standardised and included in our laws.

Our prisons need to be reformed physically and systems updated to be centres of rehabilitation. Our communities should be structured through comprehensive local government reform and activity centres for sports, steel pan, music, dancing and drama should be constructed in every community.

Businesses should be encouraged to employ and train youths and given tax credits for such endeavours.

Communities should construct and offer at subsidised prices office space, manufacturing space and food courts to encourage trade and investment in the communities.

The Police Service should be given the option of either restructuring the entire service to be modern and efficient or face closing down the entire service and replacing it with smaller well trained national police and local community police employed and based in the communities.

These measures, together with replacing the current motor vehicle registration system to modern plates and a tracing system, as well as a reliable network of cameras and overhead surveillance, will have the desired effect or reducing crime in TT .

This is how the world works and there is no need to reinvent systems when all that is needed is tweaking successful systems and making them relevant to the needs of TT .

Steve Alvarez via email