Crime Affects us all

[San fernando]

Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl ... =161625831

Crime affects us all
Donstan Bonn
Friday, April 9th 2010 7:28 PM

In this beautiful twin-island republic of 1.3 million people, it is difficult to accept the high level of crime being experienced on a daily basis. Murders, robberies, shootings, kidnappings, rapes seem to be the order of the day.

At the time of writing, there were already 132 murders this year, with 47 being committed in January and 32 in the month of February.

Lenon Augustine and Sebastien Banmally, both law enforcement officers, count among the remaining 53 persons killed within the last forty days.

Blame for the current crime situation is usually directed at the Ministry of National Security, and by extension our national Police Service.

But while it is the duty of our law enforcement agencies to detect crime, apprehend perpetrators and ensure justice is administered, they need the help of law abiding citizens to ensure greater success.




In all fairness, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service has made several attempts to improve police/community relationships.

Under its “policing for the people” philosophy, Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert has mandated that all police officers receive ongoing training so that they will act professionally and show respect to all citizens, while performing their duties with honesty and integrity.

Another initiative – the “One Door Policy” - mandates all police officers to take reports from members of the public and ensure that they are addressed.

’Crime affects us all, whether directly or indirectly,’ says Philbert, in an interview with Express Online, ’and as such we welcome any information that will be useful to us.’

The Acting Commissioner stresses that the information will assist the police in removing those unlawful elements desirous of disrupting the lives of citizens.

’We must not allow the criminal elements to continue to wreak havoc against our citizenry.”

He says all concerns and crimes must be brought to the attention of the police so they can be dealt with expeditiously. Philbert also calls on citizens to report all incidents involving errant officers so that the necessary disciplinary action can be taken.

The Police Service has made it possible for information to be given anonymously through Crime Stoppers (800-8477) or by dialing 555.

But have citizens taken full advantage of these avenues in the fight to eradicate crime?

Citizens must come to the realisation that our law enforcement officers cannot be at the scene of every crime while it is happening. We therefore need to become their eyes and ears in their absence.

Since crime affects us all, we need to play an active role in bringing it under control.

The Police Service laments a lack of support from citizens.

’It seems that the police always come under attack,” says one police official, “whenever they shoot an alleged ’innocent good-boy’ but remarkably little is said when an officer is gunned down in a most gruesome manner.”

Seven persons are robbed at gunpoint by three unmasked men on Good Friday. Constable Banmally is fatally shot in the process, and there is no public outcry.

What is even more confusing is that the six survivors appear to have difficulty in providing a positive identification of at least one of the suspects.

Trinidad and Tobago, we all have a role to play in the fight against crime. Instead of pointing fingers, each of us must build his part of the wall.

 

[RauCous]

As long as people like me continue to throw a blind eye towards criminal activity there could be no realistic hope for change in the crime situation. Like any war there is nothing quite as useful as good intel. People who know don't care. And the converse is almost true, people who care have no idea how to accomplish anything. The systems that should be in place to protect and support the vigilant citizens among us do not seem to exist. I'm not talking about the administration , the social landscape the citizenry facilitate is very understanding of the crime situation, complacent almost encouraging. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who did something, but there is no will to confront the evils we see, the populace prefers to stay out of trouble than preemptively stop it.
We prefer to give in to fear and feed the tool of the criminal system than to starve the psychological hold they have over us.