While the death of any citizen is not a matter to rejoice over, the response by the T&T Police Service to yesterday’s home invasion in Mayaro that resulted in the death of four suspects is a small but welcomed boost for law enforcement.
Citizens know very well that one swallow does not a summer make, and while they still have a long list of demands for those entrusted to protect and serve, yesterday’s quick reaction, similar to the one that claimed another four bandits in the deadly Pennywise heist in La Romain two weeks ago, is what the public has been demanding of law enforcement for some time now.
Trinidadians are not inhumane people. We live by the rule of law that demands everyone operate within the law and be treated justly and brought to justice for violations of the law.
But the rule of law has never been a one-way street and when faced with gun-toting bandits terrorising law-abiding citizens and threatening the lives of officers, we expect the police to respond in with like force.
Naturally, there is always a procedural course to follow in the wake of such incidents.
The fact that eight police officers were charged in the shooting deaths of three men in Laventille back in 2020 and another charge with the Rich Plain killing of PC Gilkes in April, after police insisted he was killed by a suspect, remind us to not easily jump to conclusions before investigations are completed.
Yet, the families and friends of those killed yesterday should not be surprised if they find it hard to get an accommodating ear from most of the population over the circumstances of these deaths. Citizens are simply fed-up and disgusted by the crime situation and while we understand the pain of also losing someone, there may be few sympathisers.
Daily, social media is fed with CCTV footage of shootings, robberies and murders, with the perpetrators toting some high-powered weapons without care about who is affected, including children.
It’s natural that these recent responses from the TTPS will be met with more praise than condemnation. No bandit goes into a robbery expecting to get caught but these incidents ought to send a message to them that the police are prepared to act swiftly and decisively.
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds suggests that these responses were the result of changes in the strategic approaches police are now taking and recent improvements in intelligence gathering. The Minister, of course, is in one of the best positions to know this, as he’s also well aware that prevention is better than cure.
And while none of the victims lost their lives in yesterday’s incident, the families of the two security guards who died in the Pennywise heist and of the third who is being nursed back to health may find little solace in the deaths of yesterday’s perpetrators.
It’s for this reason that while the police must be given credit for acting promptly in La Romain and Mayaro, they must remember that the population will not be satisfied until the plaudits for proactive action outweigh the commendations for the reactive ones.