Senior Investigative Reporter
sharlene.rampersad@guardian.co.tt
Attorney General John Jeremie, SC, says the Police Service did several “dry runs” before it implemented the first closed area under the Special Operations Act.
The Maloney community, which falls under District 2, has been closed since November 10, a day after a viral video showing children and other residents running for cover during gunfire at the Maloney Buildings on Monday.
Speaking yesterday on TTT’s Focus talk show, Jeremie was asked whether police were ready to implement the legislation.
“Yes, they’ve been working very hard since the legislation was first enacted; they’ve had dry runs,” Jeremie said.
“I know for a fact that they know exactly what to do. Within 24 hours, it is no small feat for the services, the joint services, the police and the army acting as a constabulary force to get 300 boots on the ground, which is what they did within 24 hours,” he added.
Jeremie said the joint forces had clear objectives and remained professional in carrying out their duties.
He said a high rate of underemployment in the community, among other factors, had fuelled crime.
“We anticipate that there are at least two entrenched gangs in that small locale, and when things go awry, the gangs go at each other.”
He said there have been murders in that area over the past year.
“And it was that fear, a fear of increased violence, retaliatory violence, which I imagine led the Commissioner of Police to take the action that he did.”
Jeremie said the United National Congress won the 2025 general election on its promise to deal with crime and was taking steps to ensure it fulfilled that promise.
To those in Maloney, the AG said, “I would say that the Government is concerned about your welfare.
“It is determined to ensure that we return safety to the streets of that community. We will not allow the actions of a few to jeopardise the safety and health of the many.”
In Maloney yesterday, a lone police vehicle stationed at the entrance to the community from the Churchill Roosevelt Highway was sporadically checking vehicles entering and exiting the community.
At nearby Building 6, tempers flared as residents expressed frustration with the lockdown measures and directed their anger at the Guardian Media news team.
Further away at Building 19, resident Kevin Hazelwood said he supports the lockdown.
“We bring this on we self,” he said.
Seconds before, a marked police vehicle skidded to a halt a short distance away and three officers jumped out, running toward another building. Hazelwood said they were chasing someone who was smoking marijuana.
He called on police to focus on their bigger goal.
“Look for the guns, look for the crime, do what you say you come to do, forget about the marijuana.”
Another resident, school teacher Natasha Moore-Sharpe, said the measures have made residents’ lives much harder.
She said children and adults have been getting to work and school late because maxi taxis must wait until the curfew is lifted at 5 am to enter the community.
“My daughter had to wait half an hour (for a maxi) and on top of that, a police officer will see my daughter and asking her what she have in that bag...my daughter is 12 years old, she is a minor,” Moore-Sharpe said.
She said the community’s children were being traumatised by the police action.
Trincity/Maloney MP Camille Robinson-Regis, in a press release yesterday, called on the Government to lift the closed area declaration and end the curfew immediately.
“Maloney has endured enough. The Government must act now to end this operation and return the people of Maloney to their normal lives, with their rights, dignity and freedom of movement restored.”
She also slammed Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for “disguising political opportunism as love and concern for the people of Maloney.
