The toll gang violence is taking on this country is summed up in statistics shared recently by acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob—approximately 1,600 young men ages 15 and 29 killed in just the past five years.
Gang violence accounts for 50 per cent of the murders recorded in this country, driven by a ready supply of illegal firearms. According to Mr Jacob, sophisticated weaponry, including submachine guns, are being used to commit double and triple murders.
Although this country has a long history of street gangs dating back to the steelband clashes of the post-World War II years, the deadly escalations over the past two decades have severely tested and stretched the criminal justice system.
Increased expenditure on national security by successive governments and the series of anti-crime measures rolled out by various T&T Police Service (TTPS) administrations have not made a dent in the dangerous street culture that is now deeply embedded across the country.
Mr Jacob, who has made it his mission to deal with gang violence, should start with an awareness that he and the officers of the TTPS cannot do it alone. He will need to develop a strategy based on avoiding the mistakes of past police commissioners.
The most glaring was that early on, even with mounting evidence that T&T was a key transit point in the firearms and drugs trade from South America, law enforcement did not respond adequately. In the 1980s and even through to the 1990s, because the murder rate was low, the looming threat was ignored.
That is why there have been sharp and steady increases in murders since 2000, fueled by criminal street gangs equipped and empowered through alliances with illicit arms and drug dealers across the region.
T&T is in a bad place now, with the unenviable reputation of being one of the most violent countries in the region, because of repeated failures to prevent and deter violence and hold offenders accountable.
This was underscored by two deadly incidents in just the past two days—a gun battle in the streets of east Port-of-Spain in which a security guard on her way home from work was killed and the brazen execution of two people seated in a car in the parking lot of South Park, San Fernando.
They are indicators of the monumental task ahead for Mr Jacobs and the TTPS who will be under pressure to increase police enforcement for those who continue to offend and gather more accurate insight into T&T’s ever-worsening gang-related homicide problem.
There is a vital role for police officers who have in-depth knowledge of the hot spots where gang wars and murders are most prevalent as well as the people who live there.
Success in combatting criminal networks will require different approaches, such as the police working more closely with community-based agencies on initiatives to keep young people out of gangs, entice gang members to leave their gangs and encourage them not to use violence
However, there must be tougher approaches to those engaging in repeated acts of violence who must be accountable for their offences.
Until the detection and conviction rates increase, there will be little progress in breaking up T&T’s gang culture.