Jan­nelle Bernard

The head of the North­ern Po­lice Di­vi­sion, Christo­pher Pa­ponette, has as­sured res­i­dents of the Ari­ma bor­ough that the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) is aware of the prob­lems plagu­ing the di­vi­sion and plans to dis­rupt and dis­man­tle gang ac­tiv­i­ties in Ari­ma.

Pa­ponette says the TTPS has al­ready iden­ti­fied ar­eas of Aripo where CCTV cam­eras will be in­stalled, and res­i­dents can ex­pect to see a height­ened po­lice pres­ence.

Pa­ponette, who ad­dressed res­i­dents dur­ing a town hall meet­ing on Tues­day night, dis­closed that Ari­ma had be­come one of the dead­liest places in Trinidad and To­ba­go,

“The North­ern Di­vi­sion, for the past five years, ac­count­ed for the high­est per­cent­age of mur­ders in the coun­try. Even so, the North­ern Di­vi­sion and more so Ari­ma ac­count­ed for the high­est num­ber of SRC’s (Se­ri­ous Re­port­ed Crimes) in the coun­try,” Pa­ponette said.

Pa­ponette as­sured res­i­dents that the TTPS is in touch with the com­mu­ni­ty’s needs and is aware of the ef­fects of crime.

He said, “Crime af­fects every­one in dif­fer­ent ways, some lives are for­ev­er de­stroyed, oth­ers are trau­ma­tised and are in pain for a long time, oth­ers lose faith and trust in any­one to pro­tect them or their loved ones.”

The North­ern Di­vi­sion com­pris­es Pi­ar­co, Arou­ca, Tu­na­puna, St Joseph and Mara­cas, St Joseph.

SEE AL­SO: North­ern Di­vi­sion ac­counts for bulk of mur­ders

CLICK FOR MORE NEWS