Crime crisis must take priority now

THE EDITOR: The senseless murders paint a picture of democracy under attack in TT. It’s a travesty when an innocent lose his/her life and it’s viewed as collateral damage.

The murders and crime epidemic generally are a consequence of no strategies or bad strategies when these gangs started in the mid 80s, murdering rival members.

A mindset solution that was bandied around by law enforcement and appeared to be accepted by many was to let them kill out each other, philosophically in the psyche of the criminals. It was a judicial waver and today they still commit brazen acts knowing no punishment will be forthcoming.

The frightening thing about this situation is that after five administrations and an abundance of political rhetoric it still seems there is no sign of law and order being restored in the near future. Neither is there an admission of an inability to deal with the situation in order to seek help in the form of an SOS.

Every time a crime initiative is rolled out the murder rate goes up and now innocent law-abiding citizens have become part of the murder statistics.

The problem is too many guns on the streets and although the suggestion of a state of emergency will harm to our struggling economy, cognisance must be paid to the importance of the human resource, which is the main driver of any economy.

The relevant authorities from time immemorial tried going to sleep hoping that these senseless murders would have gone away when they awoke. But of course this is a failed “strategy.”

It cannot and should not be business as usual. This crisis must be on our front burner and addressed now. The people must call the leaders to order by saying not how many more must die but that too many have died and that enough is enough.

ELI ALLSOP
, Malick