Concerns about T&T's murder rate and the need to diversify the economy were some of the issues tackled by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday.The matters were raised by Lakshmi Singh, an anchor for National Public Radio (NPR) based in Washington, who had a one-on-one conversation with Persad-Bissessar after the PM delivered the feature address at the T&T Investment Conference at Pratt House, Manhattan.
Asked by Singh about the murder rate and the long-standing criticism of the effectiveness of T&T's law enforcement bodies, the PM said those were matters of grave concern... "but there has been a 30 to 40 per cent decrease in serious crime since we have been in office. When crime affects one man it affects all."What pushed the numbers is the murder rate and this continues to be high for the size of our population," Persad-Bissessar said.She said security aspects, including equipment, were being increased as well as the number of officers assigned to the various law enforcement bodies.
The strength of the Police Service, she added, was about 5,000 but on any given day that was not the case."Some of them are working in New York and some of them are on vacation and there is just never that complement."But we have increased the manpower and also placed emphasis on training. Yes, we have far more to go... we are far from being perfect but we are getting some where with it," Persad-Bissessar added.
Tackling Cyber Crime
Regarding T&T's effectiveness in dealing with cyber crime, she said legislation had been implement but even from the greatest nation of the world there have been leaks"So none of us are really safe.Yes, we are trying to put security systems in place but conscious that it is going to be an on going battle. Cyber crime always seems to be one step ahead of us," Persad-Bissessar added.
On criticisms made of the poor handling by policemen of reported rape and assaults made against women she said that had been a long-standing area of concern.On the issue of a video posted on the Internet purportedly showing a Trinidadian man being a member of the terrorist group, Isis, Persad-Bissessar said there was no evidence of the nationality of the person.
Need todiversify
Regarding T&T's decrease in oil and gas reserves, which are its main exports, Persad-Bissessar said those resources would not be able to sustain the economy forever.She said while T&T still had some time it was very important to take to diversify, including in the areas of tourism, information and communications technology (ICT), marine and in the financial sector.She also urged the audience to come to T&T to witness Carnival celebrations and because of the fact that Trinidadians were ranked as the third happiest people in the world.The PM said there was no need to lift the subsidy on fuel until a more sustainable measure was implemented.