The busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty is wel­com­ing the State of Emer­gency, say­ing it will build con­fi­dence among the cit­i­zen­ry at a time when T&T is ex­pe­ri­enc­ing the high­est crime rate ever.

Pres­i­dent of the San Fer­nan­do Busi­ness As­so­ci­a­tion, Daphne Bartlett, said while she wel­comed the move, she be­lieved in­ter­na­tion­al de­vel­op­ments could have con­tributed to the de­ci­sion.

"I am sur­prised they have not called a lim­it­ed cur­few in some ar­eas. We have been call­ing for a State of Emer­gency for three years now," she said.

"She added, "I want to give this a try be­cause of the hor­ren­dous crime be­ing com­mit­ted. We have the swear­ing-in of Nico­las Maduro on Jan­u­ary 10. We have a big mi­grant pop­u­la­tion, and we have to look at that be­cause of their in­put in the crimes be­ing com­mit­ted, so we have to fac­tor in that as well."

She lament­ed that T&T did not have prop­er bor­der con­trols.

"I don't know how this State of Emer­gency will fac­tor in the bor­der con­trol. Our crime rate is the high­est ever and so I am so hap­py that we are at­tempt­ing a State of Emer­gency."

She ad­vised peo­ple to be vig­i­lant.

Mean­while, the pres­i­dent of the Greater San Fer­nan­do Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce, Ki­ran Singh al­so wel­comed the move, say­ing crim­i­nals seem to have the up­per hand.

Say­ing it's time to take back con­trol of T&T, Singh ad­vised the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty to stay vig­i­lant.

"If you don't need to be out, stay in­doors," Singh said.

He not­ed that the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty will feel safer in the com­ing days, not­ing that peo­ple should not en­gage in pan­ic buy­ing.

Mean­while, busi­ness con­tin­ued as usu­al on the streets of San Fer­nan­do and there was no line­up at gas sta­tions.