Have we lost the plot?

THE EDITOR: “If life was a thing that money could buy, the rich would live and the poor would die. But blessed be the Lord who made it so, both shall live and both shall die.”

Those words, from my venerable next-door neighbour, kept ringing in my ears as I read the extremely sad story of the triple murders in Penal. Two survivors, an eight-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, lived among the dead bodies for almost five days.

Now comes conflicting stories, from the police that the children were well fed and clean, and from the grandfather that the children were starving and dehydrated.

Autopsies showed that all of the victims’ throats were slit while one was also shot twice.

Did the children witness these horrific acts? Can anyone of us imagine the post traumatic stress disorder those children will have to endure in years to come?

It is clear that, as a nation, we are spiralling towards a future of inanity.

Meanwhile, our hard-working Commissioner of Police just gave a comprehensive account of his stewardship in his first year. He trotted out some impressive looking statistics of preventive police action and policies that were put in place.

However, there was no mention of the overall police detection rate with respect to murders.

Former acting police commissioner Stephen Williams has said that in 2017, the overall detection rate was 31 per cent, while in 2016 it was 23 per cent. The target for 2017 was 30 per cent. No target was set for 2018.

One can only assume that he was referring to the murder rate and not to overall crime.

Griffith is right about one thing. A government cannot be giving contracts to known gang leaders and expect the police to clean up its mess after.

A clear reduction in crime in TT requires extraordinary effort from all concerned.

LINUS F DIDIER

Mt Hope