Citizens Security Programme launched

The programme will focus on young people between the ages of seven to 24, said Joseph to ensure that the greatest impact is achieved.

The minister revealed this yesterday during his feature address at the CSP’s official Launch and Stakeholder Workshop, held at Crowne Plaza, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. Several countries in South and Central America, and the Caribbean, where similar programmes were implemented has provided young people with other outlets to express themselves.

Joseph said “high-risk youths” were now becoming involved in music, drama, theatre, sports, life and social skills development, and other community-based interests.

The community-based interests will be developed by experts and residents to address child abuse, youth violence, juvenile delinquency and anti-social behaviour in all the partner communities.

There will be school-based violence reduction programmes which will equip parents, teachers and students with the skills needed to address various forms of school violence.

Youth friendly spaces will be established in partner communities providing a range of accessible and affordable services to young people, including skill programmes, educational resources and support from trained youth development personnel.

A fund will be set up by inspire confidence in one’s neighbourhood (ICON) which will finance micro projects aimed at improving the safety and security of the community.

ICON will also seek to promote the positive development of young people in the various partner communities. Joseph said the CSP is an initiative of the Ministry of National Security geared towards the reduction of crime and violence in 22 high risk communities in TT. The CSP seeks to achieve this, by fostering cooperation and partnerships with communities across the nation, and in so doing increase the levels of safety and security in our communities.

The programme has four objectives, namely to reduce the levels of homicides, robberies and woundings throughout TT; to increase the safety within communities; to reduce injuries related to firearms, child maltreatment, domestic violence, and to increase the collective effectiveness to prevent violence in our communities.

The CSP is a three-pronged programme, the first of these being community action.

This will involve the mobilisation of communities whereby community action officers will visit identified communities to organise residents into community groups to find solutions to crime and violence in their neighbourhoods.

The second will be the “Policing for People” initiative, which will involve a change in the culture and behaviour of police officers, who interact with the public on a regular basis.

The institutional strengthening of the Ministry of National Security is the third and final component of the CSP, with emphasis being placed on the use of scientific data to develop policies to fight crime, violence and crime management.

Joseph said the “CSP is unique in that it is a grass roots programme which gets to the heart of communities’ problems by creating dialogue with the people of TT, helping to establish community action councils which will be community-led and community driven.”