Ameen: Root out bad cops

ROOTING out bad apples from the TT Police Service (TTPS) is essential to build public trust and help win the fight against crime, urged Opposition Senator Khadijah Ameen during yesterday’s Senate debate on the Anti-Gang Bill. Saying very little success against crime can be expected if the TTPS is perceived to be corrupt, she lamented, “The Government has not taken steps to weed out corrupt police.”

While noting the TTPS has many good officers, she said these are at risk from the bad ones. “The Government must deal with corruption in the TTPS to address crime. If those people who have to protect us are in the bosom of the criminal element, we can expect very little.”

Ameen made her point to weigh-up the chances of success of walkabouts by the police in Carapo to try to build the trust of residents being extorted by local thugs.

She also urged better protection for youngsters in children’s homes. These children, she said, are vulnerable to being recruited by gangs due to their need for protection in that environment.

Saying a Clifton Hill, Laventille resident had recently contacted her to dispute Housing Minister Randall Mitchell’s claim of no more gang activity at Clifton Hill Towers, Ameen said Mitchell has been wrongly advised by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), and so he now must investigate for himself. Saying she is a Muslim, Ameen warned that in some countries the fight against terrorism resembles a fight against Islam. Ameen concluded that education and judicial policies must deal with the root causes of criminality and crime.