A FRESH crime plan is expected to be drawn up to deal specifically with the rising murder rate as National Security Minister, Brigadier (ret) John Sandy has called in Deputy Commissioner of Police Mervyn Richardson to an emergency meeting.
In a written response to a written question asking if he was concerned about the rising murder toll, which up to yesterday was 177, Sandy said: “I am abhorred by this development and have today (yesterday) spoken with Deputy Commissioner of Police Mervyn Richardson with respect to new concepts of crime fighting applications with particular concentration on gang activity and homicides. We have to; we must arrest this upsurge in criminal activity and we must do so soon!”
Sandy gave this response to Newsday while he was in the Senate which yesterday debated a request by Government for an additional $1 billion in its 2011/2012 Budget, at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port-of-Spain.
Sandy further stated in his response note that he would be raising the issue at the weekly stakeholder “crime team meeting” between himself, Comm-
issioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs, Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier General Kenrick Maharaj and other heads of the various branches of national security.
Speaking with Newsday yesterday, Richardson confirmed that he has been in communication with Sandy. Richardson too expressed his concern over the number of killings particularly over the past weekend in which eight persons were murdered.
And while Richardson was not prepared to speak on any new crime plan he said he wanted to assure the nation the police remain committed to protecting citizens and property.
“The incidents which happened over the weekend are regrettable, but rest assured proper investigations are being conducted into each and every incident. That said, over the past month, we have been trying different strategies and doing different things, which I cannot elaborate on at this point, in our efforts to combat crime.
“While at the moment, I can say we are not satisfied with the results so far, I can assure the public that we are committed to their safety and bettering our strategies to bring the current situation under control. Each night and each day we are forming partnerships with various utilities such as the army and members of the Customs and Immigration division and are working as a team, with the view of bringing this situation under control,” Richardson explained. President of the Police Social Welfare Association Sgt Anand Ramesar, was more scathing when asked to comment. He was critical of the leaders of the police service and called on Gibbs to resign in light of the increasing crime rate.
“This is not something the police service can be proud of. The Commissioner of Police has failed this country. It is my belief that he has misled citizens into believing he has a handle on crime…but the statistics show otherwise.
“If Gibbs is true to his word, he would recognise that he has failed and should resign with immediate effect. We need a commissioner with fresh ideas and thoughts which are relevant to the culture of this country and the type of criminality which exists in this region. We are not interested in any old tricks,” Ramesar said. Gibbs is a Canadian-born officer brought in on a three-year contract.
However, he too suggested that if the police were to combat the increased crime rates, the service would need to re-strategise policies.
“It is the association’s view that the recent surge in homicides is very disappointing and very sad for Trinidad and Tobago and that the police service and by extension our leadership needs to recognise that the way we are doing things is not having the desired outcome.
“We need to re-strategise…we need new plans and new ideas. If anything is clear from these past two months, it is that the 21 century policing programme is not having the impact in crime that we wanted it to. And this is clear, because it has been a little over a year since the programme was launched, yet we have had ten murders in four days,” Ramesar said.
