Police Commissioner Gary Griffith may be at his wits end trying to deal with the rising murder count.
In the period between Sunday and Monday four people were killed. Last weekend, two-year-old Aniah McCloud was shot dead by someone who targeted her father, who was also killed.
It seems that the killing fields of Trinidad and Tobago is getting no rest.
On his Facebook page after Aniah’s killing, Commissioner Griffith lamented the lack of protest at the child’s murder, referring to the recent protest in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
But Commissioner Griffith must understand that the citizens’ outrage may not be in the form of physical protests but reside in the hearts of many right-thinking citizens hurt and outraged that the murder rate is at 220 and counting.
While there aren’t protests against the daily spike in murders, Commissioner Griffith should understand that as a country we are all concerned, as he came into office with great promise and told the country to judge him by the murder rate. But his time in office has brought little or no comfort.
The Dr Keith Rowley administration also came to office promising they would deal with crime. In their five years in office, more than 2,400 people have been killed, and since Griffith took up office just over 1,000 people have been killed. These statistics don’t lie—in 2015 420 people were killed, in 2016 - 462, 2017 - 495, 2018 - 517 and 2019 - 539.
There is no doubt consecutive governments have had difficulty in fighting crime. In January this year, the Prime Minister said, “’It would not be fair to the Government to be measured by this situation that didn’t arise overnight, and is not a feature of this administration.”
Bear in mind billions are spent annually on fighting crime. It is therefore difficult to understand why the rewards have not been forthcoming.
Commissioner Griffith, the population is traumatised by heinous crime.
Little Aniah’s killing brought home just how bad the problem is.
Commissioner, the country wants someone to fix the crime problem and you promised that.
Let Aniah’s murder not be in vain. Go after the criminal element. Make them tremble with the fear that if they commit crimes they will pay the penalty. The courts must do their part also. Too many people are dying at the hands of these criminals. It must stop.
Archbishop Jason Gordon has lamented the grief of young Aniah’s killing, asking “what kind of nation is Trinidad and Tobago becoming?” Commissioner Griffith and perhaps the politicians need to wake up to the realisation that this country is in the throes of a battle the criminal element seems to be winning. Collectively we cannot let them. There is too much at stake.
Yes Commissioner, the citizenry could protest over Aniah’s killing, but the question is would it change policing methodologies? Would it make T&T a safer place? Would it answer the question posed by the Archbishop? How many more innocent citizens must die?