As her Government faces blows over the worsening crime situation, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she, too, is angered by the crime wave, admitting that it is the biggest challenge facing her Government. Speaking at a hamper and purchase order distribution exercise for South and Central residents at her constituency office in Penal yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said: "I was upset when I read the newspaper this morning but when I got here I was happy.
"I was upset generally because again crime remains our greatest challenge," she said. "We have been working on a holistic way to fight crime, but the greatest challenge facing our nation is too much crime and banditry." She made the comment a day after five people were murdered in north and south Trinidad.
The Prime Minister said her Government remained committed to eradicating crime in a holistic manner from three levels-the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
While detractors had been criticising her about not having a crime plan, Persad-Bissessar said the first step in her crime fight was to prevent it through social intervention strategies."We are going to the most vulnerable people in the society and we are providing social services to nip crime in the bud...We are dealing with the issue of preventing crime by dealing with poverty," she said. "Through distribution of social services and community development, we are dealing with crime but this will yield results in the long term."
Persad-Bissessar said on the secondary level, the Government was tackling crime through law enforcement. "This is where we find the criminals and we deal with them," she added. At the tertiary level, the Prime Minister said the Government was committed to addressing crime by improving the problems in the administration of justice. "This will be done through the judiciary and the courts," Persad-Bissessar said.
She noted that fighting crime on the secondary level through law enforcement was the most important aspect of the crime fight. "Though she refused to divulge specific details about her government's crime strategies, Persad-Bissessar gave a commitment to fight crime in a holistic manner. She said, however, that she needed the support of all the citizens of T&T. She urged members of the public to assist the police and to work with the Government in solving crime.
Persad-Bissessar said she had already put her ministers on high alert that their motto for 2011 is to deliver promised services to the people of T&T. She noted that improving the crime situation in T&T was a promise made to the people and her Government would ensure that crime levels were brought down. Though she admitted that crime statistics were lower when compared to the same period last year, Persad-Bissessar said this was no cause for jubilation, as one life lost was one too many. She said when she looked at the newspapers yesterday, she was angered that so many more citizens of T&T were killed.