Crime Crisis calls for drastic action

T&T is facing a national crisis as the murder rate continues to soar. There were 70 murders in the last 52 days of this year, with 13 of those being killed within a week—from February 15 to 22. Saying that the crime situation was a concern to him, retired Chief of Defence Staff Brig Carl Alfonso said T&T was now “facing a national crisis.”

“The thing (crime) has gotten out of hand. It seems to be getting worse. More drastic action has to be taken. Clearly the fight now has to be taken to them (criminals)...” It is no secret that crime, Alfonso said, was being fuelled by gang warfare, drugs and guns.

“There seems to be too many illegal weapons on the streets and we must deal with that in a more forceful way.” Alfonso said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s call on Friday for an increase in police and army patrols on the streets to bring a sense of comfort to citizens was a step in the right direction. He was confident that once these two enforcement agencies worked together crime can decrease.

Alfonso said one way to combat the criminals was to identify crime “hotspots.” He also said that leaders of the police and army would have to come up with a crime-fighting strategy. However, he said, if we can get help from crime-fighting experts from outside, without surrendering our sovereignty, we should embrace it.