Time to get serious about the murders

THE EDITOR: Murders are out of control in this country, and getting worse every day. People are saying that all over the world there is crime and that we are only “bringing down” the country. That may be true but it’s no excuse for our high out-of-control crime rate.

TT has about 1.4 million people, about the same as Long Island in New York City, and for the year so far there have been more than 170 murders here. There are many countries with populations four times the size of TT and they do not have the number of murders we have in this little country.

The city of London in England, for instance, with a population of 8.788 million, has only had 46 murders this year – and they are concerned and upset because it could surpass New York, which has 50 murders so far.

This little two-by-four country there have been more that 170 murders and people continue to talk nonsense.

The truth needs to be told. The reality is terrible and shameful. It shows that the authorities do not have a grip on the crime situation.

They are powerless and weak. There is no plan for combatting the murders. All the billions of dollars spent over the years have not had positive results.

Look at Singapore with a population of 5.7 million. In 2017 its murder rate was about 16 and there have been no murders so far this year. Its said that the crime rate in Singapore is so low that shops do not even have to lock their door. Of course they have tens of thousand of cameras all over the city so it would be foolish for someone to commit a crime.

China has a surveillance network of over 170 million CCTV cameras.

The authorities there were able to catch a wanted man in a crowd of 60,000 people. Why can’t we do that here? Put cameras all over the country.

Forget the highway to Manzanilla. Money is being spent in the wrong places.

No government has ever had one solution for the crime problem. Talk and more talk and nothing behind it. The criminals know there are no consequences when they commit a crime.

Do you know that we are No 13 in the world among countries with the highest murder rates? What a shame. It’s time the authorities come up with positive crime-fighting solutions because nothing they try is working. The criminals are wining all the time.

The Government has to get rid of the rotten apples in the system. Time to take crime fighting to another level. It starts by improving the relevant technology. Too much time has been wasted. Let’s get serious about reducing the murders and crime generally and send a strong message to the criminals.

MODICIA MARTIN via e-mail