Ineffective Police Service

With the explosion of Saturday’s dustbin bomb, it seems fair to say that the police have made no headway  in finding the person or persons responsible for planting these explosive devices. In a statement made  after his arrival on the scene, Acting Police Commissioner Glen Roach said that the police are doing  all they can in a joint effort between various agencies. The worrisome aspect of that statement is that the police’s “all” is apparently far from enough.  The bomber may hold the same opinion. It is reasonable  to speculate that, by planting his device in a KFC restaurant where there is not only a police post less than 20 feet away but also an Eye-in-the-Sky unit, he was signalling his total contempt for the Police  Service.

Roach’s suggestion that the choice of location was influenced by the heightened security in Port-of-Spain on Friday (the main effect of which was to cause rumours of a bomb and even a coup) is untenable.  Instead, it seems as if the bomber has become even more murderous. While his previous two explosive  devices were placed on the public street, this one was put in the middle of a crowded fast-food restaurant. As with the second bomb of August 10, it was mere  chance that this third device did not injure anyone.  Planted in the garbage bin of the busiest KFC restaurant in the country, it just so happened that an  employee had taken the garbage out to a dumpster mere seconds before the bomb went off.

Had the device exploded in the restaurant, it is almost certain that  people would have been killed. Many would surely have been badly injured.  Yet PoS Mayor Murchison Brown, presumably feeling he had to say something, appealed to the bomber to stop  his acts so innocent people would not be hurt — a ludicrous call, since hurting people is the very raison d’?tre of the bomber. The kind of person who would commit such acts, not caring if he maims or kills even children, is not going to be moved by  appeals to his better nature. Nor does Roach’s advice to citizens to proceed with their  business as usual, but with caution, provide much  comfort. Citizens will do so, but only because they  have no choice.

What people want to know, however, is  that the authorities are taking effective action to  catch this bomber. Do they have a psychological  profile? Have the components of the bomb been identified? If so, what attempts are being made to trace the source of those components?  The complete silence from official sources on these  and other questions is going to be interpreted as a  sign of incompetence rather than a matter of security. The public has not even been told what personnel have  been assigned to this investigation. Citizens do not know if foreign expertise is being used or not.

All this only adds to the general insecurity of the populace. Thus far, the most effective strategy has come from Crime Stoppers, which has posted a $25,000 reward for  information leading to the arrest of any person or persons responsible for Saturday’s incident. This may  yield concrete results since there are very likely to  be individuals who know who the bomber is — if only because such a person can hardly prevent himself from boasting about his exploits. Hopefully, the bomber may have said something to the wrong person, who will  provide a lead to the authorities. This, it seems, is the only real hope the police have of stopping these  now-monthly explosions.