Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher yesterday admitted that her 2023 violent crime reduction plan had failed.
At a Joint Select Committee sitting called as a follow-up inquiry to gain an understanding of the anti-crime strategies implemented and being implemented to address criminal activity in Trinidad and Tobago, Harewood-Christopher said the targets were not met despite some progress being made in crime fighting.
JSC vice chairman Paul Richards asked, “You set some targets that you would achieve as at December 31, 2023, you did indicate at the start that you did not meet the targets, there were 11 specific targets identified, 30 per cent detection rate for violent crimes, 30 per cent detection rate for homicides, 15 per cent increase in firearm retrieval rate, 15 per cent reduction in serious crime, 20 per cent reduction in homicides, 20 per cent reduction in violent crimes, ten per cent reduction in larceny of motor vehicles, five per cent reduction in road traffic fatalities and you also identified 20 persons charged under the Anti-gang Act. Can you identify which of these targets were met?”
Harewood-Christopher indicated that efforts had fallen short.
“We were unable to achieve any of the targets because the targets were a bit exaggerated (what does that mean), if we look at previous achievements over the years, these targets were never really met, so it was ambitious to sort of encourage the officers to really work towards reaching that target,” she said.
The Police Commissioner further explained that in other areas, the results were also off the intended target.
“A 20 per cent reduction in murders, we did achieve just about a five per cent reduction compared to the previous year.
“In terms of violent crime reduction, we would have worked towards a 20 per cent reduction, however, we were unable to achieve a 20 per cent reduction, we had a 15 per cent reduction in serious crime.”
Last May, Harewood-Christopher had rated her performance as excellent. However, as she appeared before the JSC yesterday, she described her one-year tenure as challenging, saying, “2023 has been a challenging year for the police as we continue to confront our brazen, innovative and determined criminal elements.”
The CoP said in light of the lack of success of some of the anti-crime strategies, changes will be made in an effort to prevent the further erosion of public confidence in the TTPS.
“When we set the targets, then we are held to it and don’t achieve it and then it looks as though the police not achieve any of its targets, so I believe I cannot be so ambitious and set stretched targets again,” she said.
After disappointing committee members by failing to appear before an initial JSC meeting last February, Harewood-Christopher, who appeared at a subsequent session, had promised there would be a reduction in the murder rate within three months.
“We will expect to see a change in the murder rate short-term by June and long-term by December,” she said then.
However, during a JSC in May 2023, she indicated that the crime reduction plan was off target.
Last year’s murder figure crossed 580, falling short of 2022’s total of 598.
Yesterday, the top CoP, who had also previously been criticised for suggesting that divine intervention was needed to address the country’s crime scourge, assured the JSC members that the police service will continue taking a targeted approach to reducing crime.
“We have a relatively small number of offenders and we commit to continue to target these offenders who are responsible and, of course, we are going to use all the available resources and we are reviewing our technology additionally as we continue.
“We know that firearms, gangs guns and drugs, they are the major issue that challenge us, so that we are focusing on reducing the firearms and the drugs.”
According to Harewood-Christopher, there has also been increased collaboration between members of the TTPS and the Customs and Excise Division, in an effort to intercept illegal firearms bound for the country.
“At our level, we would have had discussions with the comptroller of customs so we have joint operations going on,” she said.