National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds says he has not considered resigning despite the high crime rate that has seen 193 murders in the last 129 days this year.
In the face of calls for his resignation and increasing pressure for action against criminals, Hinds hosted a media conference yesterday seeking to assure the population that the situation can be overturned.
After he admitted the crime spike was horrendous, Guardian Media asked Hinds whether the situation was beyond his ability as minister and if he had considered resigning.
“The answer to your question is no. I know what my responsibilities are. My Prime Minister knows what my responsibility, as one of his ministers, is. He’s the one to judge…I take my responsibilities very seriously and I tackle issues as they arise,” Hinds said.
“I don’t function operationally, Joshua Seemungal. Mine is about Government policy. Mine is about encouragement and support. Mine is about providing resources,” he added.
Hinds expressed confidence that through collaboration between all the national security agencies, the situation could be reversed.
He asked for the public and businesspeople to join in the fight against criminals, saying it required an all-Government and all-country approach.
“The crime situation is concerning. It is horrendous. It is mind-blowing. It’s crazy,” Hinds said.
“I would like to take this opportunity to say to the business community, who spoke out admirably, I would like to take this opportunity to say to all of Trinidad and Tobago, we share your pain, we share the trauma and the men and women of law enforcement, who are sworn and paid to protect you, are on the job. They have acknowledged that more could be done.”
Also at the media conference, acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob promised increased patrols, a greater police presence and increased effort in retrieving illegal firearms. He lamented that it was far too easy for anyone to purchase an illegal firearm.
While Jacob promised a greater presence by his officers, he acknowledged that other strategies were required. He said increased focus is being placed on improving the detection rate.
“We recognise that some of the criminals are intent on continuing their activities and we call it adaptation. They adapt to situations. It is totally necessary for us to get them out of the system by lawful means,” he said.
“Our ballistics centre that we set up last year is helping us tremendously. Seven of the murders solved this year, ballistics played an important part. Our ballistics centre is one of the keys that will propel us to increase our detection rate and take those offenders off the street.”
Jacob said the Police Service also recently purchased 14 automated fingerprint detection devices that helped solve 115 crimes.
He added that DNA testing is now taking place locally again at the Forensic Science Centre - also assisting with detection rates.
Jacob promised that within two months, major news about the importation of illegal firearms from the United States—Georgia and Baltimore in particular—will be revealed.
It is estimated by the TTPS that there are at least 12,000 illegal firearms in the country. For the year so far, police have recovered 242 firearms.
According to Superintendent Singh of the Homicide Bureau, of the 193 homicides committed so far this year, 32 per cent were caused by gang activity, 17 per cent were drug-related, 13 per cent robbery-related, while 15 per cent were as a result of domestic violence or altercations.
He said the Homicide Bureau has noticed a considerable increase in familial killings.
