UNC says Laventille crime plan will fail

THE OPPOSITION United National Congress (UNC) deemed the proposed police/army operation to deal with crime in Laventille/Morvant “a resounding failure” before the operation has been commenced. Assistant Police Commissioner (Crime) Oswyn Allard said the security forces will be initiating an exercise in the crime-plagued district on the scale of a “Baghdad” invasion but has kept the exact details of the operation a secret. National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee also declined to comment on the operation but was optimistic about its success.

However in a statement yesterday, the UNC said: “ We are not impressed by this latest crime plan by the Government. It is doomed to failure and may really turn out to be what the Government intended. We are really not surprised that the PNM Government would want to exploit a public relations benefit of the tragedy of criminal activities now destroying the communities in the Laventille region. Public relations cannot weed out the criminal elements in Laventille.”

The UNC said police work “especially in flushing out criminals, depends on an element of surprise” and questioned what it viewed as Allard’s premature public utterances about the operation. “The element of surprise is blown and the criminals scamper in safety to strike another day,” the party lamented. The UNC declared that this crime plan reflects the incompetence of Chin Lee and reiterated its long-standing call for him to resign. The party also called for the resignations of Laventille East/Morvant MP Fitzgerald Hinds and Laventille West MP Eulalie James because “they have failed the people of Laventille.”