Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds has met with Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher and Chief of Defence Staff Darryl Daniel to discuss their anti-crime plans. Following those discussions on Thursday, Hinds says Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has given the law enforcement heads Government’s commitment that they will get the resources they need to execute their plans.
Speaking with journalists at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday, Hinds confirmed Harewood-Christopher and Daniel asked for more resources, which, he said, will be provided as soon as possible.
“We took the decisions yesterday, since they said they needed certain other resources. They will be provided in quick order and I got that as a directive from the honourable Prime Minister as well,” Hinds explained.
Hinds said the recent spate of violent home invasions were also a topic of discussion in the meeting.
“As Member of Parliament, as man, as a citizen, I understand the severe trauma that victims suffer at the hands of home invaders…we understand full well the trauma, the pain and the abuse, we saw how they beat that 15-year-old boy,” the Minister said.
In the latest home invasion in Aranguez, San Juan, on Easter Sunday, six bandits rob and beat a family. Police subsequently killed one of the bandits involved in the home invasion in a shootout. He was identified as Rakel Rahim Mason, of Eastern Quarry, Port-of-Spain.
Over the Easter weekend, after at least three home invasions and two businessmen, Bing Zhu Zang and Rishard Ali, were murdered, the business community again raised their voices calling for easier access to FULs to acquire firearms to protect themselves and for the return of the hangman.
On Wednesday, religious leader Clive Dottin also called on Hinds and CoP Harewood-Christopher to break their silence and give the public some kind of assurance and comfort, as he said the fear of crime continues to grip the people of Trinidad and Tobago. The Seventh-day Adventist pastor said no one feels safe anywhere.
Yesterday, Minister Hinds pleaded with the youth to make better decisions and encouraged them to utilise the training opportunities available.
“You don’t have to thief and rob and rape and kill and plunder to be successful to achieve,” Hinds said.
He called on the young people of Trinidad and Tobago to “take it down” and said there was no success in preying on people. Instead, he said it only brings pain to the victims and ultimately the perpetrators themselves.
Hinds was also criticised yesterday for his statement on Thursday that it was the responsibility of the CoP and the Chief of Defence Staff to develop an anti-crime plan and not his job.
However, the Minister stuck by his statement, saying he did not want to politicise crime.
“Ministers do not get involved in operations matters of the police service or any other agency for that matter,” he said.
He said maintained was the TTPS that generates an anti-crime plan and strategy, while the Government was responsible for the policies and providing the resources needed for the law enforcement agencies to achieve their goals.
