Economist: Tobago crime mirroring Trinidad

Crime economist Anslem Richards says crime in Tobago is mirroring Trinidad.

“Tobago is just dealing with similar effects of what happens in Trinidad,” he said on Monday.

Richards was addressing a spate of gun-related crimes on the island. There were ten murders there in 2019. As at Monday, eight murders have been committed this year with at least six of those victims being shot.

In an interview with Newsday, Richards said if security arrangements are not rigid there would be a migration of criminals and criminal activities to Tobago.

He said there is a link between the increase in gun violence and the island’s porous borders. Richards recalled, two years ago former ACP Tobago Garfield Moore highlighted the fact that there was an increase of illegal firearms on the island.

“We had a number of robberies and if you want to proxy the gun violence, you have to look at robberies involving firearms. Two years ago, we were seeing clearly where we had an upsurge in robberies and the weapon of choice was illegal firearms. Every robbery is a potential murder. So, what is veering out now is that we have a proliferation of illegal arms on the island and the guys are going to use it to carry out their trade.”

Richards said while there may be some elements of gang-related activities and the drug trade involved, the main problem is the availability of guns. He noted that there is a need to deal with how the guns are getting on the island.

“Are they coming through the normal ports of entry? Are our security arrangements at the ports of entry appropriate? I don’t think so. We’ve been clamouring in Tobago for years for an X-ray (scanner) machine especially for those goods vehicles that are moving between Trinidad and Tobago daily. We have seen that the police and customs have made significant busts in terms of illegal substances coming to Tobago, but what about those that they didn’t capture?

“We have hundreds of trucks coming to Tobago for weeks, thousands of trucks with all kinds of things and we don’t know what is coming to the island. There must be a security arrangement at the port that we know what is coming and what is leaving the island.”

Richards said the political and civil volatility in Venezuela was affecting TT.

“We have received reports from the fishermen where they are being offered firearms on the high seas for pigtail. I don’t know how credible those reports are, but fishermen have reported that a Glock 19 or a 9mm pistol and ammunition and two magazines could be traded for a bucket of pigtail. So, we’re having all these reports coming up but there needs to be a serious approach to the island’s security, and I don’t think the THA is doing a good job at that."

Richards noted that there is need to develop the on-island capacity to respond to these challenges.

“Yes, while we get support from Port of Spain and so forth and there is this whole constitutional arrangement of what we are in charge of, we have to build on-island capacity to deal with the on-island problems that we are facing, whether it's law enforcement or otherwise."

COVID19 CAUSING DESPERATION

Weighing in on the issue, president of the Tobago Youth Council Latoya Roberts-Thomas said a social net is necessary as the measures to combat the covid19 pandemic has made a huge economic impact.

Roberts-Thomas said the shutting down of the tourism sector and other measures enforced by the government have made it extremely hard on some people.

“Whether you like it or not, these young persons were not in stable jobs anyway. They were the vulnerable ones who were severely affected with the closing down of certain industries, whether it be the construction, the entertainment industry, the tourism industry. They would have been having a lot of these low-level jobs within those sectors that were the first to be affected with the regulations,” she said.

“Even if they did have a job, the standard of living and the expenses are still above their pay grade, so they would always find alternative ways to make money to survive and, unfortunately, some of these alternative ways are very illegal and are harnessing to the crime that is going on on the island, whether it is through drugs, robbery.”

Roberts-Thomas commended the police who she said is doing an excellent job.

“So we are seeing a strong police enforcement and patrolling to keep the place safe but that is just a very much surface-level solution. It doesn’t go to the deep-rooted cause of the social inequalities in the society.” She said the government will have to provide social safety measures, whether it’s through grants or through additional jobs, catering to people who are now unemployed owing to the closure of their industries.

“Unless those initiatives happen soon, we are going to see a continuous rise in crime. Right now, persons are in survival mode and they are very desperate. The private sector cannot sustain all these issues right now, so the government would definitely have to pump in those social grants.”