British High Commissioner to T&T Tim Stew said crime and justice in this country will always matter to Britain because of the fact that many Brit nationals have been murdered in this country.
Stew said 30,000 British nationals visits T&T each year and the resident British population is 45,000 at any one time.
Stew was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Port-of-Spain’s “lunch with a purpose” meeting at Fitzblackman Drive, Woodbrook, on Tuesday.
As an observer, Stew said he will continue to collaborate and support this country in discussions to aid in the crime fight.
“I have spent time researching, discussing, building our knowledge not to cast blame but to get to the root of the issue,” Stew said.
Stew said, in understanding what’s going on, he outlined several issues including a serious backlog of serious crime case, old fashioned investigations, “does there need to be greater sensitivity to certain crimes, example, gender-based crimes or investment in modern training and equipment, quicker delivery of forensic services, more efficient processing of crime cases by the magistrates’ court, or have better incentives for the guilty to plead guilty rather than chance to luck, perhaps need to tackle impunity to stop people from thinking that they can just do what they want without penalty.”
“When you truly probe and analyse the situation you begin to understand just how interwoven all these things are and how complex it is to tackle sufficiently to turn the corner and start to see serious crimes fall...solutions are really quite complex,” he added.
Stew said not wanting to sound political—he have seen the Attorney General and the Chief Justice putting legislation and other measures in place for that turnaround to begin and hopes that in his fifth year here will be able to see the needed decline in crimes.
“I see security as a national issue, not a party political one for points scoring. It takes a combined national effort and so we’ve worked with all and others including the private sector who showed the need to work in the same direction to deliver an improved security environment, “ Stew said.