Thursday’s daring robbery of a cigarette van in Valencia, in which a security guard was murdered in an ambush, should serve as a wake-up call to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service which has boldly declared that there has been no spike in murders.
Over the last few weeks, there have been numerous reports of murders in several communities throughout the country.
This week alone there were over a dozen murders, which meant families were left in grief, more lives violently snatched away, and an already traumatised nation left to witness more bloodletting.
This is why the statement from the Police Service seems both insensitive and more than a little out of touch with what is taking place in the country and citizens’ growing concerns about the state of lawlessness in the country which seems to be heading to pre-pandemic days.
Even the statistics quoted by the Police Service show that murders are on the rise.
In its statement issued on Wednesday, the TTPS said: “The murder toll for 2019 was 439, it was reduced in 2020 to 340, and it currently stands at the same figure (340) for 2021.”
But with two months of the year still to come, it is evident more violence is on the horizon and something must be done to curtail it.
The Police Service has identified the root cause of some recent killings as gang and other criminal activities, domestic and land disputes. There has been some progress made regarding the detection of murders, with the arrest of 72 suspects this year by the Homicide Bureau.
While some may see this as a positive stride, it provides little comfort to the Trinidad and Tobago population which has lived through and witnessed terrifying levels of criminality and lawlessness throughout the years.
The statement by the Police Service that there is no spike in murders does little to allay concerns about rising crime, the fear of crime and the actual murders currently taking place, where sometimes innocent bystanders become “collateral damage” to quote a former prime minister or people are killed for being in the ‘wrong place’ at the ‘wrong time.’
Given the present state of the TTPS with no substantive Commissioner of Police or Acting Commissioner of Police, it is understandable that those now tasked with providing leadership to this critical arm of the national security apparatus would say and do anything in the hope that the public would believe that all is not lost and that they have things under control.
But burying its head in the sand, devoid of sensitivity and empathy, does not represent the Police Service the nation has grown accustomed to.
Although an analysis of statistics may indicate one thing, it remains fact that one life lost is one life too many.
The nation cannot grow numb to the murders occurring, nor can the Police Service, whose duty it is to serve and protect the public interest.