Crime in Trinidad and Tobago

I believe by now that the whole world is aware of the rising crime wave that has taken hold of this beautiful island of Trinidad that is my home. Although there have been many Travel advisories visitors still pour in by the droves daily carnival this year 2008 was fantastic .

At Times I wonder if it happened over night. Lets take a look at the situation. Our population is officially 1.2 maybe 1.4 million unofficially i believe it is about 1.5 to 1.6 million. Like most fast paced economically developing country, Trinidad and Tobago has been able to attract many migrant workers. Some of them legally while the majority are here illegally.

In the early thirties Trinidad experienced a wave of immigrants mainly from Grenada, most of them settled in south Trinidad in towns like Guapo, Fyzabad, Point Fortin and environs.(See map of Trinidad) These early immigrants came here to work in the oil industry that was at its infancy during that period. From my research I can say that these guys worked very hard enduring conditions that today we call deplorable. From their ranks emerged the father of our Trade Union Movement his name was Tubal Uriah 'Buzz" Butler. Today I am not going to write a paper on the development of the Trade Union Movement in the Caribbean, I am merely painting a historical picture.

The next wave of immigrants came in the 1940s to work on the construction of the American Military bases at Chaguaramus, Waller Field, Carlsen Field and many other smaller ones that dotted our landscape during World War Two. After the construction was over they melted and became part of the population. This group also worked hard and contributed to the development of the islands.

During the sixties the government of the day under the leadership of Dr Eric Williams encouraged another wave of migrants. This group settled in areas on the hills of Laventille, Diego Martin, Petit Valley, Barataria and Morvant mainly. It is rumoured that they were given Identification cards so that they could have voted for the P.N.M. You might be wandering what does this have to do with the current crime situation in Trinidad? Don't worry we will get there.

Today the major crime hot spots are Laventille, the hills of Diego Martin in areas such as Covigne Road, Rich Plain, squatting areas as Bagatelle and Rivers Estate in Diego Martin, Scorpion valley and other hillside communities in Carenage, Maloney, La Horquetta, Point Fortin, Fyzabad and I can go on an on. Incidentally Maloney and La Horquetta are government low cost housing estates, most of these housing estates are a haven for criminals.

The government has been treating these criminal elements with kid gloves. You might be wondering why? The answer is simple we don't need any criminologist to tell us what is happening. These areas form the backbone of the traditional P.N.M. support. They are afraid to deal with the situation because they are afraid to lose some of their support. So while the government hatch plan after plan to deal with crime the law abiding citizens of this beautiful land are scared.

Last week a soldier and his friend was brutally gunned down at his baby son christening in Rich Plain Diego Martin. The perpetrators of this act ran and hid. What happened next shocked the entire nation both criminals and law abiding citizens. According to media reports. A detachment of soldiers from the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force swooped down on the village of Rich Plain and it was licks like peas for some of the residents, It literally rained blows in Rich Plain. Some people say that the soldiers acted in an illegal manner while many others said its about time somebody do something about these criminal elements that are living amongst us.

Over the past week the Army have flushed out a gang of criminal youths in Rich Plain seized a quantity of guns and ammunitions and assisted the police in the arrest of the perpetrators. Just imagine one talk radio show host wife was shot while she was asleep in their Bagatelle home by criminal elements who did'nt appreciate the radio host supporting the soldiers action in Rich Plain on air during his program. Every law abiding citizen of Trinidad and Tobago is wondering why is the government not utilising fully the army in the fight against crime. Guns and drugs are pouring into the country and no matter what is being done and the millions /billions of dollars spent there is not a dent on the crime situation. The police detection rate is around ten percent of all serious crimes and I can assume that the retrieval rate for guns and narcotics is also that figure. So imagine that ninety percent of the guns and drugs are on the streets.

We will be having a new Commissioner of Police appointed soon. Let's see what he can do.