Support all anti-crime efforts

THE EDITOR: I am a retired sailor and it hurts me to see the manner in which some members of the police service make futile attempts at discrediting the Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT). It is apparent that their main grouse is the fact that a member of the Defence Force heads the unit and that other defence force personnel are involved. Everyone is aware that the main crime fighting unit is the police force. If, however, the Government, given the escalating crime rate, saw it fit to mandate a unit to provide technical and tactical support to law enforcement agencies then this should be applauded and not condemned.

The Police Firearm Interdiction Unit’s grouse is that they must be the only unit looking for illegal arms and ammunition. According to them, if SAUTT is to be involved then the unit should be joined with the FIU. I know for a fact that there are members of the FIU who now work in SAUTT. All of a sudden they all want to join the SAUTT. The police are also highlighting the fact that some marijuana was found two streets away from SAUTT’s headquarters. According to newspaper reports this bust had been under surveillance for a number of weeks by the Port-of-Spain Task Force. No two units would want to be working on the same information unless they are collaborating or supporting each other. If the Port-of-Spain Task Force needed the assistance of the anti-crime unit they would have requested it.

In any case when criminals want to commit their clandestine operations, the close proximity of a law enforcement agency does not always deter them, what deters them is surveillance, and it was surveillance that enabled the police to get the goose in this instance. I saw the Brigadier on the news the other night and he took time out to explain that his unit would be conducting aerial patrols with their night sun equipped helicopter. He explained to the police that there would be some measure of discomfort, but that they should bear with the unit during this period. He stated that his unit would be working alongside the police service during the Christmas and Carnival season to ensure that the public enjoys a safe season. As a citizen I certainly feel a lot safer knowing that the anti- crime unit is part of the crime fight. I say leave SAUTT alone and let them do the job that they were mandated to do. Let us support their crime fighting efforts and in the end we would all be applauding their successes.

R Liverpool
Chaguanas