Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Ineffective!
This is how criminologist Dr Randy Seepersad is describing the state of emergency declared in T&T yesterday as he called for a targeted attack on the root causes of crime rather than a “broad-brush” response to the high crime rate.
During a media conference at the Ministry of National Security in Port-of-Spain, acting Attorney General Stuart Young emphasised that the SoE was called to address violent criminal activity, particularly involving illegal firearms, ammunition, and explosives.
Young added that following the murders of six men in gang killings that took place on Saturday and Sunday outside Besson Street Police Station and Prizgar Lands, respectively, Government was bracing for further gang killings based on police intelligence. (See page 6)
Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday, Seepersad said because of the broadness of the SoE, “it’s a less than efficient use of resources.” He said an efficient anti-crime initiative would target the root causes of crime, which the SoE did not do. He said an example of a targeted method was the CURE Violence Programme from the Citizens Security Programme of the Ministry of National Security.
He said, “If you are familiar with the Cure Violence model, which has been used successfully in Trinidad and Tobago, there are violence interrupters who work within that particular model. They’re persons known and respected in the community, but also trained in mediation. And when conflicts like this arise, they go on the situation, and they calm it down and cool it down to really try to prevent that type of retaliatory violence that could occur. And that model has proven to be very, very effective in Trinidad and Tobago.”
Regional security expert Garvin Heerah said the SoE should be used as a collaborative effort by the National Security forces, who have been working in silos for too long. He said the T&T Defence Force (TTDF), which now has powers of arrest, should be using its intelligence-gathering skills to upset criminals.
“The Defence Force plays a very, very important, integral role in intelligence gathering, and therefore, the intelligence infrastructure and architecture of the Defence Force will be most likely tapped into during a time like a state of emergency. What we would like to see, however, is that together, everybody works much smarter in achieving the objectives during this time of state of emergency, and do not operate in silos.”
In March last year, Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Marshal Darryl Daniel, told a parliamentary Joint Select Committee (JSC) that the biggest challenge facing the TTDF was having to patrol with police, as the TTDF members were not trained in law enforcement as police were.
Asked about this, now that TTDF members had powers of arrest and could conduct searches without warrants, Heerah said the TTDF members were trained to support the police, and their role during the SoE would be to continue doing so, but in larger numbers.
Seepersad said the TTDF should have undergone training to allow them to better interact with the public and familiarise themselves with the use of force policies.
Seepersad added that while the SoE was not the best choice, the state’s immediate response to a possible threat was needed.
Last Friday, Adventist pastor Clive Dottin said if he was in charge, he would have called a state of emergency. Asked about it yesterday, he said it was needed as the country could not continue on the pre-SoE trajectory.
“We have to make sacrifices. You’re not going to solve the level of criminality that you have in this society. All of us have to pay a price, and sometimes it’s a surrender to our freedoms. Now, I must also give some advice to those in authority. You have significant powers of arrest, of detention without formal charges; that is an amazing thing. And if this authority you have during a state of emergency is not used widely in the long term, all of us will suffer to a catastrophic extent.”
