Prime Minister: It is for the police to protect citizens

“Whether we like it or not, there are people in this country who chose criminal conduct as the way of life and there are people who end up committing crime. There are those who plan to commit crime and execute their plan. One of the crime’s that is disturbing to the national public is violent crime.

“Those who would have committed those crimes would be held accountable for their actions.

I am a firm believer in the interpretation that one of the things that would encourage criminal conduct in Trinidad and Tobago is the view in the minds of citizens that if they commit crime, there is a very good chance that the crime would not be detected. That has to be a catalyst for committing crime,” he said.

Speaking Friday at the opening ceremony for the Maracas, St Joseph Police Station, Rowley said if someone believed they could commit a crime and have a very good chance of not being detected, they would make that decision to commit the crime.

Pointing out the tragic murders of Hafeeza Mohammed and 13-yearold Lennon Subar, Rowley asked what was the role of the police in preventing that to happen.

“We in the Government, we in the Police Service, we want to say to those persons, if you think about committing that crime think twice because we are going to detect you and prosecute you to the highest of the law.

“That must be a standard in this country, not today or next week or next month, it has to be a sustained response of the people of TT.

“We have no other option.

It is the police and the security agencies we have to depend on to protect us from those who have chosen crime as a way of life.,” the Prime Minister said.

He said the Constitution spelled out who was responsible for what.

“I have the executive, I have the Cabinet. There are some people who feels the Prime Minister can do anything and I must know everything, and I could be involved in anything. The Constitution circumscribes the role of the Cabinet in the same way the Constitution spells out who will secure the State in terms of dictating an office,” Rowley said.

He said the Commissioner of Police was not subject to take instructions from anybody in the Executive. He said even the minister had to be careful how he related to the Commissioner of Police.

“The very same people who want the minister and the Prime Minister to go out and drive this horse down the track, if we take basket... because it is the same people who will point out the executive because he has stepped out of bounds.

We have to know where our boundary is in the Constitution.

“As Prime Minister I acknowledge the role and responsibility of the Commissioner of Police and I have said from day one as Prime Minister, I will hold the police responsible in what they have to do. That is why we have to continue at every level, from the Cabinet right down to the constable, to accept the police and their work,” he said.

“This beautiful valley and all that it holds will be destroyed if the criminal element is not held in check, and the criminality and general misconduct is not restrained . It is a small number of people acting with impunity, carrying whatever they carry, drugs, firearms to destroy. You as police officers, you stand between those people and the rest of the national community and preserve Mara