Crime is worse than we think

THE EDITOR: The mission that Police Commissioner Gary Griffith has chosen to accept is to drastically reduce crime by stopping the flow of illegal drugs and weapons into TT and putting an end to gangs and gang warfare.

It must be sadly noted that it seems an impossible mission to know exactly how much crime actually occurs in the country. Usually when a crime is committed, only the criminal and the victim, and sometimes an unhelpful or fearful witness, know about it. We therefore are faced with an incomplete picture of the real crime situation. We have a general understanding of how much crime exists but we may never have the entire picture.

Statistics from reliable sources prove that crimes such as murder, rape, aggravated assault, home invasions and robberies are on the rise. Some businesses have been robbed more than once. Shoplifting occurs regularly. Purse-snatching, pick-pocketing, vehicle theft and arson are happening too frequently.

We are experiencing a lot of crime, but even more disturbing is that all victims do not report their the offences to the police. They are hidden and therefore one can conclude that the crime problem is much greater than we think.

This under-reporting of crime represents a major problem for all of us in TT. Some police have lazy practices that affect the number of crimes being reported.

For example, it is alleged that some police do not record every report from a citizen as a crime. Sometimes they do not have the time to do so because of their hectic schedules and heavy paperwork, and in other cases they do not believe the citizen making the report. If they do not record the report, it does not count as a crime.

Some police stations may even fail to record crimes or downgrade others in an apparent effort to make it appear as if the crime rate is on the decline.

SIMON WRIGHT, Chaguanas