radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Even though between $19 million- $22 million is spent annually on security at the Housing Development Corporation, criminals are continuing to run illicit operations from HDC apartments in South Trinidad, causing legitimate tenants to flee.
At Ridgewood Gardens in Golconda, almost every home in Phase 1 has been burgled over the past year so residents have now employed private security to patrol the area. At Wellington Gardens in Debe, houses have been used to harbour Venezuelan prostitutes, two of whom were rescued by the police recently.
The police have continued to stymie criminal networks through raids and sting operations but some frustrated families from Orchid Gardens in Pleasantville and Taradale Gardens in Ste Madeliene have opted to move out.
When the Guardian visited Orchid Gardens, residents revealed that five families had already vacated their apartments because of crime. The last family left following the murder of druglord Darren Carter on June 2018.
“We see people walking around openly with the guns in their hands. This is a serious situation. All hours of the night we hearing gunshots. These youths enjoy shooting wild,” one resident said. A former resident who left the area in 2017 said she now enjoyed peace.
“I used to worry about a stray bullet hitting me or my son. In the end, I decided it was better to leave there and find somewhere else to live, even if I have to pay rent,” the former resident said.
However, some of the unemployed youths of Orchid Gardens said they were trying to change their lives but this was not possible because of corrupt police officers who were in cahoots with gangsters from the La Romaine gang.
“Some of them get paid by the druglords in La Romaine and they come down on us and give us frame case. I am not saying that people don’t do illegal things but it have good men here who trying to turn around their lives. We formed a football club and we started playing together as a community so that we could change our lives but even that the police have a problem with,” a resident said.
A qualified plumber formerly employed with Petrotrin, who was arrested by police during the State of Emergency in 2011 said since then he has not been able to find work.
“My photo was plastered all over the papers as a ganglord and after that, I lost my job in Petrotrin even though I was never charged with anything. Up to now, I cannot find a job,” he said.
Another youth who gave his name as Antonio Rogers said he was always persecuted by police because of his last name.
“My father was killed by the police when I was just two years. I am trying hard to change my life but the police making it really hard,” he said.
After speaking to his councillor Robert Parris, Rogers said some of the youths joined the T&T United Peace Foundation.
“I started to get heavily involved in music and I started getting equipment for my own studio but one night police came and seize everything. They said I stole it but it was only when I provided the receipts to show I bought it that they gave it back to me,” Rogers added.
He said many of the apartments at Orchid Gardens were in a state of disrepair. He showed off the apartment of Ricardo Saunders where the ceiling tiles were loose, the walls were damaged and the toilets leaking.
Meanwhile, police said criminals had been commiting robberies in the area by luring Facebook users with items for sale into robbery traps. They have also been utilising empty apartments to do illegal activities, a police source said.
At Tarodale Gardens, Ste Madeleine, residents said thieves were using stilts to enter properties.
“They thieving all your fruits and whatever they could find in the yard,” a source said. Criminal gangs sell drugs from houses and it is common to see clients coming to do pickups,” a source said.
At Wellington Gardens, a resident who requested anonymity, said some HDC houses were being rented out to miscreants.
“There is a police officer who uses one of the houses as a brothel. We reported it already,” a resident said.
Contacted for comment yesterday, the HDC said it had an ongoing targeted programme to reduce illegal occupancy and trespassing in its housing developments.