Shocking Statistics

I am going to post a news report from the Trinidadian Newsday newspaper today.

It is a very sorry story but what is really upsetting are the figures at the end of it.

‘WHAT IS YOUR CRIME PLAN?’

Angered by the surge in murders and lawlessness, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar heads this morning to the police headquarters in Port-of-Spain to demand of Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs and his top brass what plans they have to arrest the crime rate.

Government sources said Persad-Bissessar, head of the National Security Council, commanded that the meeting take place on Gibbs’s ‘turf’, that is the Police Administration Building, on the corner on Sackville Street and Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain and not at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair or at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.

She is expected to ask Gibbs what he plans to do to get rid of the “criminals terrorising the country”, a source told Newsday yesterday.

“She wants to know are their plans to reclaim Trinidad and Tobago from the hands of criminals,” said the source.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 am and Gibbs is expected to brief the Prime Minister on the initiatives he has in place, in the short term, to deal with crime over the Christmas and Carnival seasons, according to a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday.

Persad-Bissessar called the meeting after a killing spree in which more than 17 murders, some of them double and triple homicides, were committed in less than 14 days.

National Security Minister Brigadier John Sandy will accompany the Prime Minister to the meeting at which Gibbs, Deputy Commissioners Jack Ewatski, Stephen Williams, Maurice Piggott and nine divisional commanders are to give an account of their plans.

Last week, Sandy instructed Gibbs “to go hard on criminals” at the height of the spate of murders which included the highly publicised killing of TSTT employee Kenny Goddard at a work site in Cocorite and Trinidad-born American soldier Simeon Roderique. Their killers have yet to be found and arrested.

Several murders over the past weekend pushed the death toll to 450.

Sources said Persad-Bissessar was alarmed by this statistic and her concerns have been intensified by the numerous emails, text messages and letters she has received from members of the public crying out for something to be done about the runaway crime. Crime was also raised with Persad-Bissessar by the business community during a meeting she had with representatives last week.

Persad-Bissessar has taken a firm position to deliver on reducing crime and is expected to give the police brass a clear mandate to bring the lawlessness to an end. She also wants them to state how they are going to deal with gang crimes.

“She wants results and not promises,” a source said yesterday.

Government is keen for Gibbs, a Canadian, and his executive to deliver since they negotiated a multimillion dollar remuneration package for the commissioner.

On August 26, Cabinet approved a three-year contract, worth almost $4 million, for Gibbs. Ewatski, who too is Canadian, also received a three-year contract.

At a press briefing at the Office of Prime Minister’s, St Clair, that day, Sandy said Gibbs’ pay will be US$205,000 per year (TT$1.3 million), which works out to an estimated TT$108,000 per month. Ewatski’s pay is CAN$200,000 per year (TT$ 1.2 million) or an estimated TT$102,000 per month.

“These packages are related to those offered to commissioners of police in jurisdictions in Canada and the US,” Sandy had said. Newsday understands there is a termination clause in the three-year contracts under which Gibbs will be dismissed if his performance is deemed unsatisfactory by the Police Service Commission (the independent body charged with the recruitment and discipline of police officers) and by the Ministry of National Security.

“Between the Ministry of National Security and the Police Service Commission it will be determined whether they are performing as we expect them to perform,” Sandy said on August 26. “Additionally, the office holders will be able to leave if they so desire.”

Sources said although Gibbs has only been Commissioner of Police for three months Persad-Bissessar expects him to deliver, because the People’s Partnership campaigned during the last General Election that they would bring crime down.

Gibbs is due to present Persad-Bissessar with a report on his anti-crime initiatives which are expected to be launched tomorrow and will continue until Carnival next March. Persad-Bissessar wants the police to maintain round-the-clock visibility between Christmas and Carnival. Police sources said in October Gibbs asked all divisional commanders to come up with anti- crime strategies.

Those reports were submitted to Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Harold Phillip and Newsday understands that from tomorrow the Port-of-Spain, Western, Northern, North Eastern, Central and Southern Divisions will once again partner with members of the Defence Force to carry out round-the-clock patrols.

Emphasis will be placed on shopping areas during the Christmas season.

Sources said police of the Port-of-Spain Division held discussions with store owners who expressed concern about the impact of crime on their businesses.

The police gave the business community the assurance every effort will be made to protect businesses, customers and employees.

“We want to assure the public, especially those who come to Port-of-Spain to shop, that they need not fear because the police and soldiers will be at every street corner, mingling with crowds to ensure the safety of all,” a senior officer in the Port-of-Spain Division said yesterday.

Newsday also understands officers of the K9 United and Mounted Branch will be included in police patrols in Port-of-Spain in the next month. By mid-December all officers on clerical and desk duties will be reassigned to the streets to carry out patrols in all divisions and plainclothes officers will mingle with shoppers to nab pickpockets.

Police sources said in the Central division members of other protective agencies will partner with the police to carry out patrols in the borough of Chaguanas. Thousands of shoppers from across the country converge on the borough for Christmas, every year, for bargain shopping.

The police are also to monitor activity around ATM machines where persons withdraw significant sums of money for Christmas. The police are to advise the public not to wear jewelry when out shopping and to avoid walking with too much cash.

It is also expected the plan will include police escorts for businessmen to make deposits.

According to police statistics, there were 32 murders; 384 reports of burglaries; 124 reports of larceny of motor vehicles; eight kidnappings with no ransom demands; 39 woundings and shootings; 54 reports of rape, incest and sexual assaults for October. There were also 455 robberies. Statistics for the month of November will be given to the Prime Minister during her meeting today.

How those figures would look over a twelve month period…

Murders – 384

Burglaries – 4608

Larceny of Motor Vehicle – 1488

Kidnap (no ransom) – 96

Woundings or shootings – 468

Rape, Incest, Sexual Assault – 648

Robberies - 5460

That is a very high toll on the public!