Young tells new municipal police: Stay away from corrupt people

National Security Minister Stuart Young has told municipal police graduates not to allow themselves to “fall into the hands of corrupt ones,” but rather, integrate themselves into their communities and feed that intelligence back to the national security apparatus.“Understand the importance, the role you now play in society. Understand how we, the lay people, look up to the uniforms you are wearing. Understand the importance and responsibility you now carry," he said.

“My vision for the municipal police is, as you to go into the various communities across TT, what we need, from a national security perspective, is for you to get down on the ground, get into the communities, get an understanding of what is going on and feed the intelligence back to us.”

He was speaking at the graduation ceremony for the 207 municipal police constables, Squads A to H, Batch 1/2019, at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA), San Fernando.He said they should not become discouraged but keep their morale high, should their hard work not be recognised by other arms of law enforcement.

“Do not allow yourselves to fall into the hands of the corrupt ones, because there are very corrupt people outside there, and they will try to corrupt you – and it could be something simple as, ‘Gimme a bligh, nah, let me just sell the drugs on this side of the block, you go and walk on that side.’ Don’t allow it.”He said as he was coming to the graduation, he got reports of the seizure of eight AR-15s in the western division, and recalled that nine such weapons had been seized in Belmont.

“And the most upsetting thing to me is that those nine AR 15s...the person who was held and charged for being in possession of nine AR-15, machine guns – guns made for war, for war zones – that person went to court, and the first day in court, a magistrate granted him bail. We seize nine weapons of war and a magistrate sees it fit to grant bail in this instance."

Nevertheless, he urged the graduates, “Don’t lose hope, keep your morale high as you enforce the law and prosecute your cases.” Seventh Day Adventist pastor Clive Dottin said TT must not allow the murder rate to reach 500.“I am saying that – and I am not the Minister of National Security – we must not allow that to happen, and you see next year? We must have a murder rate of less than 200.”Dottin said the major factor in the escalating crime and murder rate was the absence of fathers in the home.

“The fact is, the absence of fathers and the breakdown of the family is the core reason.”With two members of the Cabinet in the audience, Dottin said ganja is “coming up against Jah” and must never be legalised.“That is the worst mistake we could make, legalise something that would destroy the lipid system, which would lead to short-term memory loss, as well as its effect on the male reproductive system.”