Troubled by rising crime, violent home invasions and rampant praedial larceny, Aranguez residents are moving to hire a private security firm to patrol their community at night for almost $50,000 a month.
A WhatsApp message sent to Aranguez residents in a community crime watch group advised its members that it had been in discussions with security companies about a community patrol service.
“This, I believe, is a timely initiative given the escalation of crime in Aranguez, and such a service is urgently required to protect our lives,” the message stated.
The upsurge in crime in the last few months has left residents, business owners and farmers feeling unsafe and uneasy in their community.
The message came on the heels of last Sunday’s home invasion of Aranguez farmer Rasheed Ghany and six members of his family who were hogtied, tormented and beaten by six intruders, one of whom was armed.
One member of the Ghany family managed to send out a chilling voice note on the community’s WhatsApp crime watch group informing residents that bandits had invaded their home which led to the police’s intervention.
The invasion ended with one of the bandits being shot dead by police while five others were arrested.
A copy of the message on the group chat on Wednesday was shared with the Sunday Guardian identified an Arouca-based security firm with experience in community patrols as their choice to protect their community.
Residents were informed that it would cost $49,293 a month for two officers–one armed and the other with a baton to patrol East of Aranguez Main Road and East of Johnny King Road from 7 pm to 7 am daily.
The two security officers would also escort residents to and from their homes as part of their service.
While the message noted that the figure would seem high, it pointed out that individual costs per household could be relatively small given the number of interested households.
If 250 households express an interest in the security service, they would each have to pay $197 per month. For 200 households the monthly fee would be $247. The monthly payment for 165 households was put at $299.
“There could also be an effort to get corporate users to subscribe to the service which would lower monthly costs to households. Should we get the required number of households, the issue to be addressed would be the collection of monies to facilitate a single monthly payment to the company,” the message stated.
Farmer Vijay Kalloo makes bundles of bodi from his garden in Aranguez.
ABRAHAM DIAZ
‘No one safe anymore'
Still reeling from the home invasion, several residents who spoke on condition of anonymity blamed the community’s escalating crime on outsiders and the proliferation of apartment buildings in the farming district. Aranguez is one of the country’s food baskets.
Stating that no one was safe anymore, farmer Steve Gosein admitted that the recent home invasion sent shivers up their spines.
“It’s really frightening. This country is in a mess with crime,” Gosein lamented while tending to his crops at Basmath Ali Street.
Gosein said Aranguez was no longer the place he knew. From an undisturbed and tranquil community, Aranguez is now targeted by criminals.
“Aranguez has changed,” he said. That change came about when farmers began handing over their lands to their children who had no interest in agriculture and began selling the land.
“Then the new owners began erecting big and pretty houses which started attracting criminals because they feel people have money in the back here.”
Within the last two years, Gosein said, Aranguez was further transformed into a rental zone with an explosion of apartment buildings dotting the landscape.
The tenants in these apartments are mostly Spanish-speaking migrants.
“As we speak, more apartments are being erected.”
On Wednesday when the Sunday Guardian visited the community, we checked five large apartment buildings being built at different locations.
At least two of the five buildings were being constructed by migrants.
Gosein said the Spanish tenants have been bringing outsiders into the community, which he felt was triggering the ongoing crime wave.
“I believe people from outside fuelling the crime in here.”
He said some farmers have also leased their lands to a few Spanish who have been cultivating their own crops.
“Not all the Spanish are bad. There are a few hard-working ones,” Gosein added.
The migrants earn between $150 to $200 a day as labourers on the farms.
Not far away, farmer Ravi Singh said they have been noticing strange cars driving by and scoping out people.
“It have you uncomfortable because you don’t know what they are up to,” Singh said.
Ramlal Trace farmer Vijai Kalloo, meanwhile, called on Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher to issue guns to them.
He said farmers have to protect themselves because they are under attack by the criminal elements.
“The criminals are not letting up. We want guns to protect ourselves.”
Tying bundles of bodi under a makeshift shed, Kalloo said since the home invasion, farmers have been staying away from their fields.
“That incident really shake up the place. All now this place would have been packed with farmers working. It’s only a few of us out here today. People are scared to come out. I, too, am traumatised.”
During the interview, Kalloo paused for several moments when he noticed a white car with heavily tinted windows approaching slowly.
As the car disappeared in the distance, Kalloo said bandits have been using SUVs and new vehicles to rob farmers.
After selling their produce at the Norris Deonarine Wholesale Market, he said farmers are trailed in their vehicles and robbed.
“It had middlemen who came in here to buy crops and got robbed at gunpoint.”
Like Gosein, farmer Anton Mohan agreed that the upsurge in apartments for rent has been contributing to crime in the community.
“The landlords are not screening their tenants, they renting each and everybody.”
Mohan said he knows of one farmer who pays a security officer $500 a day to protect him from bandits.
Two weeks ago, he said, some bandits jumped into a resident’s yard to steal a vehicle. But after hot-wiring the car, they could not open the front gate.
“So, they uprooted the entire gate to get the vehicle out. It’s really scary now. That’s the extreme these criminals are going,” Mohan said.
President of the Aranguez United Farmers’ Association Satyanand Maharaj speaks about the increase in home invasion and praedial larceny in his community last Wednesday.
ABRAHAM DIAZ
Maharaj: Aranguez now a feeding ground for criminals
Aranguez United Farmers’ Association president Pundit Satyanand Maharaj said Sunday’s home invasion was not a one-off event.
“For the last couple of years, residents of Aranguez have been robbed at gunpoint with violence. Many of them will not talk because the culprits have threatened to come back for them. Business owners have gone home to meet criminals waiting for them and were attacked. Aranguez has become a feeding ground for criminals and criminal activity.”
Farmers, he said, have also seen an increase in praedial larceny.
Despite pleading for a mobile police post, Maharaj said, they were ignored.
Maharaj said we have a group of people in the country who feel it is their right to live off the sweat of others.
“They are vampires feeding off your prosperity and wealth. All the hard-working and tax-paying citizens are being attacked by a group of miscreants who are obviously well-organised. They have cars, guns and a target. They know when you are home, where your business is and how much money you making. They have been doing their homework and I am wondering what the TTPS has been doing.”
Admitting that some migrants have been involved in crimes of opportunity in the area, Maharaj said once they are here legally, they are entitled to rent.
“There are a couple of landlords who can be a little wiser in assigning apartments by doing a background check on them,” he added.
Maharaj said what Aranguez needs was around-the-clock community vigilance.
“So we can find the criminals that are coming into our community, not vigilantism. I don’t believe in taking the law into our own hands no matter how bad things get.”
Senior Supt Edwards: Intensifying patrols in the division
Head of the North Eastern Division Senior Superintendent Mervyn Edwards told the Sunday Guardian that his initiative to intensify patrols throughout his division five months ago has begun to bear fruits.
“That is what resulted in that prompt, effective and efficient action where persons were arrested.”
Edwards was referring to the ‘robbery with violence’ at the Ghany’s home, stating that this investigation was still ongoing.
“It is at a delicate stage.”
He said community partnerships and public safety are essential to their 2020 to 2024 strategic plan.
“We have systems in place and it is working.”
Edwards said his goal was to better serve the communities under his jurisdiction.
“We want to make the citizens comfortable and safe.”
Edwards admitted that North Eastern has always been a high-crime area.
“And what we are seeing now is progress being made with respect to the solve rate and the attack on crime.”
Edwards said they have taken a directive from Harewood-Christopher to target priority offenders and push back the criminals.
“Preliminary indication suggests that at this time we have some success.”
Asked if communities should turn to security firms to provide night patrols to ensure their safety, Edwards said “We are talking about money in difficult times.”
The T&T Police Service’s mission, he said, is to make communities safe and reduce the opportunities for crime.
“We cannot stop people from having security in their homes. The police at this time are making every effort under my direct supervision to make the place safe.”
Edwards said in some instances it was not people from the district that commit the crimes, it is strangers. “And I say to the villagers if you see something say something. The police is your friend, communicate with us.”
Edwards advised residents to report any criminal activity in their neighbourhood. He assured that the police will do their part.
Praedial Larceny Unit willing to meet farmers to address concerns
Assistant Superintendent of the Praedial Larceny Unit Brian Bruce said while his officers have been patrolling the area, the farmers can arrange a meeting with the unit to address their concerns.