Fr Harris: Time for citizens to stand up against crime

As crime continues unabated Archbishop Joseph Harris says the time has come for the population to stand up and say “enough is enough.” Harris, speaking with reporters after a Southern Vicariate youth rally at the St Dominic’s RC Church, Clarke Road, Penal, said he, like all citizens, was “very alarmed and horrified” by the spike in the crime rate.

He said the time had come for all citizens to stand up and for parents to take responsibility for their children’s actions. He added: “Parents are the first educators of their children and if parents are not doing their job, then things will not get better. “It is easy to blame the police and the army and the Government but all of us have to look inwardly and see how we have contributed to this situation as it exists at this moment.” 

He said as a nation, people had banded together for different purposes but the crime problem should not be ignored. “We march for all kinds of things. We march for money but situations like these need the whole population to come out and say ‘enough is enough.’ I suppose we have to keep on asking Almighty God to give our leaders some good solution to the problem,” he said.

Harris said the crime situation would be discussed further today at a special vicars’ meeting but declined to speak further on it. He appeared to be at a loss for words when asked to comment on the murder of 33-year-old former convict Learie Ceballo, of Coconut Drive, San Fernando, whose mangled head was found on a table outside Stepperz Restaurant and Bar at Rambert Village last Thursday. “We are being extremely insensitive. I don’t know...really it is impossible to describe the level to which we have sunk as a people and unless all families start to... parents start to take their responsibilities very seriously, the spiral is going to continue,” Harris added.