Enough police in TT

In the first of what has been deemed ‘Conversations with the Prime Minister’, Dr Rowley sat on a stage in the Maloney Mall amphitheatre before a large audience.

Next to him was National Security Minister Edmund Dillon.

Prior to the question and answer segment of the evening, the prime minister in his preamble, said that there is no one in this country who is more concerned about the crime rate than him. “But at the same time, there is only so much that the prime minister can do.

We the government have to make sure that those whose job it is to respond to the criminal element, they must do the job they were hired to do,” Rowley said.

Saying there are 6,000 regular police officers in the Service and another 2,000 in Special Reserve, Rowley said that this country’s police officer to citizen ratio exceeds global standards.

He said that in terms of national expenditure to fight crime, this country with a population of 1.3 million, spends more on National Security yearly, that any other country in Latin America.

He said what is needed to combat crime and murders, in no State of Emergency, but rather a more effective, well-trained and well-resourced Police Service. He said that the Police Manpower Audit to be overseen by a committee led by criminologist Prof Ramesh Deosaran, is a critical tool in dealing with short comings in the Police Service.

“At the level of government and the National Security Council, we are trying to make sure we have a Police Service that is fit and working to the level of expectations.

The bottom line is it is not that we have been providing resources to the police, it is just that there are a series of tangled systems guaranteed not to give you the results desired and we are putting something in place to deal with the tangled system by way of this Manpower Audit,” Rowley said.

Rowley said he met with the audit team and assured them that as soon as the report of the audit is handed to him, it will be brought to Parliament.

On the issue of calls for a state of emergency, predominantly by business chambers and the Opposition, Dr Rowley said no state of emergency will be called. “As you may know, people affected by the last State of Emergency (called during the People’s Partnership administration) are lining up in the courts to collect half a million a piece,” Rowley said.

Dillon later spoke of the five pillars to improving National Security, namely, Prediction - how to keep ahead of elements bent on destroying society; Deterrence: how to deter those bent on committing crime; Detection: what is needed to improve the detection rate of crime; Prosecution: how to increase prosecution of criminals and; Rehabilitation: ways and means of rehabilitating criminals willing to be rehabilitated.

Getting emotional at times, Minister Dillon said he has urged the police service to make life “more uncomfortable” for the small percentage in society bent on committing crime and attacking law abiding citizens.