Senior Reporter
jesse.ramdeo@cnc3.co.tt
Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher’s widely publicised violent crime reduction plan is not panning out as she penned it.
In fact, the Police Commissioner yesterday admitted that targets set out in her plan to arrest spiralling crime were not being met and that there have been increases in some crimes, including a 10 per cent hike in murders during the early part of her tenure.
Harewood-Christopher made the revelation during a Joint Select Committee on National Security yesterday.
Responding to a question from Committee Vice Chairman Paul Richards on how close she was to her June time frame for a noted impact from her anti-crime strategies, which she had previously alluded to during her first JSC appearance back in February, Harewood-Christopher said some marks have been missed.
“For our 20 per cent reduction in murders, we are not able, so we are challenged here, we have a 10 per cent increase in murders. We have a 20 per cent reduction in violent crimes, our target is 20 per cent reduction in violent crime, right now we at a 15 per cent decrease.” Currently, the country’s murder figure has crossed 229. Harewood-Christopher’s anti-crime plan was premised on precision policing and also aimed to reduce motor vehicle larceny and improve the detection rate, both of which have also not been on target.
“A 10 per cent reduction in the larceny of motor vehicles, we have not been successful here, we just have a 1 per cent decrease, a 5 per cent reduction in fatal RTAs, we have a 15 per cent reduction. A 30 per cent reduction in murders, unfortunately we are at a 12 percent detection rate,” the CoP told the JSC.
“A 30 per cent detection rate for violent crimes, again we are only at 16 per cent and a 15 per cent of firearms seized right now, we have broken even with last year’s figure.”
The Police Commissioner’s crime plan was criticised by several quarters of society when she announced in, with some even divided over whether or not the strategies outlined would be attainable within her stipulated time period.
Recently, Harewood-Christopher also rated her first 100 days at the helm of the TTPS as “excellent” and despite not being on track to hit certain targets outlined in her violent crime reduction plan, she yesterday confirmed that some objectives have been met.
Meanwhile, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police Curt Simon, despite not being on par with the targets that have been set out, steps were being taken in the right direction.
“Even looking at our crime reduction policy that the Commissioner would have unveiled here some time ago, we are seeing some movement towards that reduction in crimes that are happening, though I would describe as minuscule, it is conversant with what happens globally with the criminal justice system arena when a police service applies new techniques and so on, you find that the impact may not be as great as one would like to see but it is transient and we are seeing that slow transformation beginning to take root.”
DCP Simon also confirmed that police officers were being trained in advanced methods of evidence collection aimed at augmenting the investigation process.
The Police Commissioner said in an effort to improve the Police Service’s crime detection rate, retired investigators will be brought back to assist with the training of officers.
Harewood-Christopher stated, “We are focusing on a robust set of training. What we are in the process of doing is the re-hiring of experienced investigators, officers who would have retired, who are competent to assist in the training of our officers.”
Also pointing to the operation of gangs in Maloney, Pinto and Arima, Senior Superintendent of the Northern Division, Kerwin Francis, said TTPS exercises have been ongoing to disrupt active operations of the individuals responsible for criminal activities.
“There are two pockets of gangs that exist in the Maloney district. However, we have established a divisional gang unit supported by the work of the CID based at the Maloney Police Station. We have been able to arrest and charge a number of persons who were responsible for committing a number of gang related activities in the Maloney district and are currently before the courts on those charges.”