Every citizen in this country knows that the biggest issue facing T&T today is crime. While the focus has been on the over 200 murders, there are other crimes that are happening that also needs the attention of the law enforcement agencies and more specifically, the police.
The crime of home invasions has been growing, with regular reports of masked, armed men entering homes, tying up the occupants, many of them elderly, and robbing them of cash and other valuables.
Just yesterday, this newspaper reported a 69-year-old livestock farmer being hogtied, beaten with a steel pot, sprayed with insecticide and set on fire by three bandits who invaded his Cumuto Road, Wallerfield home demanding cash and valuables.
One of the intruders was armed with a gun.
This country is under siege by the criminal elements. What are law-abiding citizens to do when these monsters, empowered by their masks and weapons, traumatise, rob, harm and sometimes even kill citizens whose homes they enter?
Many of these criminals feel so emboldened now because the country’ detection rate is abysmally low. No one is safe, except for those who live in gated communities, or those who own firearms or have 24-hour armed security.
The average citizen is open to the whims and fancies of the criminals, who are prepared to maim, rape, torture and kill to get what they want.
These criminals are vicious and have no remorse, nor do they fear being caught because they know they won’t be. Bandits attack families and escape on foot, moving on to another home to commit another crime, while the police dilly dally, many times taking forever to respond. When you call you get the age-old response of no vehicle, yet a drive on the highway and you realise the police fleet has been bolstered with new vehicles. We hope they are being used in the fight against crime and not for the police to conduct their private business as they have done in the past.
Does the National Security Minister even care that the population is under siege? Unless he is at an official function reading from a prepared speech, he seems more intent on focusing his attention on the Opposition than dealing with the burning issue of crime.
It is difficult to understand how Minister Hinds’ head could be so buried in the sand that he does not understand just how traumatised and scared the population is by crime. The criminal element respects no one. Minister Hinds, as a former police officer, knows that. Or maybe he does not understand or cares to understand.
The fact is that as Minister, it is his job, contrary to what he believes, to keep the population safe. He can’t get a free pass on crime, while blaming everyone else for the out of control situation that continues to mushroom under his watch.
Commissioner McDonald Jacobs must also open his eyes to the reality. There are now too many reports of law enforcement personnel, including the police, involved in crime. Who is guarding the guards, or are they just being allowed to get away with murder?
T&T is at a critical point and it is time for the authorities to step up and take charge. Runaway crime cannot be allowed to continue.