Bavi­ta Gopaulchan

Se­nior Re­porter

bavi­ta.gopaulchan@guardian.co.tt

Crim­i­nol­o­gists have praised po­lice for what they de­scribed as a de­ci­sive show of force in Cunu­pia, where a home in­va­sion es­ca­lat­ed in­to a chase and shootout that left four sus­pects dead and two oth­ers in cus­tody.

Dr Garvin Heer­ah said the op­er­a­tion sent “a clear and pow­er­ful mes­sage” to crim­i­nals who have long ter­rorised com­mu­ni­ties.

“For far too long, com­mu­ni­ties across Trinidad and To­ba­go have been un­der siege from crim­i­nal ac­tors en­gaged in ex­tor­tion by men­ace, brazen home in­va­sions, and co­or­di­nat­ed gang shoot­ings—acts that have not on­ly dis­rupt­ed lives but have pierced the very heart of our so­ci­ety, claim­ing the lives of in­no­cent women and chil­dren.

“The na­tion­al psy­che has been strained, and the pub­lic’s de­sire to once again feel safe and se­cure is both le­git­i­mate and ur­gent,” he said.

He com­mend­ed of­fi­cers for their courage and pro­fes­sion­al­ism, but urged au­thor­i­ties to strength­en op­er­a­tional ca­pac­i­ty, in­clud­ing the pos­si­ble in­tro­duc­tion of air sup­port.

“The time is now crit­i­cal for the Min­istries of Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty and De­fence to se­ri­ous­ly con­sid­er the ac­qui­si­tion and de­ploy­ment of a ded­i­cat­ed air law en­force­ment ca­pa­bil­i­ty, in­clud­ing he­li­copters. Such an as­set would sig­nif­i­cant­ly en­hance tac­ti­cal op­er­a­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly in ar­eas in­volv­ing dif­fi­cult ter­rain, rapid in­ter­cep­tion, aer­i­al sur­veil­lance, and co­or­di­nat­ed search ef­forts,” Heer­ah said.

“This ca­pa­bil­i­ty would serve as a force mul­ti­pli­er, in­creas­ing op­er­a­tional reach, speed, and ef­fec­tive­ness in com­bat­ing or­gan­ised and mo­bile crim­i­nal net­works. The mes­sage must re­main con­sis­tent: crim­i­nal­i­ty will be con­front­ed, cit­i­zens will be pro­tect­ed, and the rule of law will pre­vail,” he added.

Dr Randy Seep­er­sad al­so laud­ed the swift re­sponse, not­ing it was aid­ed by res­i­dents who quick­ly alert­ed po­lice. He said the in­ci­dent un­der­scored the im­por­tance of col­lab­o­ra­tion be­tween com­mu­ni­ties and law en­force­ment, par­tic­u­lar­ly in close-knit ar­eas such as Cunu­pia.

“It sends a very clear sig­nal to would-be crim­i­nals, es­pe­cial­ly in re­la­tion to this very se­ri­ous of­fence of home in­va­sion,” Seep­er­sad said.

Po­lice said the in­ci­dent be­gan around 3.30 am when eight masked men stormed the home of a 70-year-old farmer, ty­ing him up and steal­ing cash and a cell­phone.

Of­fi­cers from the Cen­tral Di­vi­sion, the Home In­va­sion Team and the Reg­i­ment pur­sued the sus­pects and in­ter­cept­ed them along Ram­nar­ine Trace. An ex­change of gun­fire fol­lowed, leav­ing three sus­pects dead and re­sult­ing in two ar­rests. A fourth sus­pect was lat­er shot and killed dur­ing fol­low-up op­er­a­tions.

For­mer Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith re­ject­ed sug­ges­tions that the killings car­ried a sub­lim­i­nal mes­sage. He said of­fi­cers act­ed with­in the min­i­mum use of force pol­i­cy, de­fend­ing them­selves and cit­i­zens when con­front­ed by armed sus­pects. Grif­fith, how­ev­er, re­newed his call for the use of po­lice body cam­eras, say­ing they would re­move doubts about ac­count­abil­i­ty and pro­tect of­fi­cers from wrong­ful ac­cu­sa­tions.

Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro de­scribed the re­sponse as dis­ci­plined and said it demon­strat­ed that crim­i­nals would no longer be al­lowed to act with im­puni­ty. A man­hunt re­mains un­der way for two sus­pects still at large.

Deputy Com­mis­sion­er Suzette Mar­tin and ACP Richard Smith co­or­di­nat­ed op­er­a­tions on the ground, as po­lice urged res­i­dents in Ram­nar­ine Trace, Es­mer­al­da Road, Samp­son Road and Charles Trace to re­main vig­i­lant and re­port any sus­pi­cious ac­tiv­i­ty.