Hinds: No confirmed data of children in gangs in Trinidad and Tobago

NATIONAL Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has said his ministry has "no confirmed data" to show that children are involved in gangs in this country.

He was responding to questions in Parliament on Friday morning.

Naparima MP Rodney Charles asked: Could the Minister indicate how many persons under the age of 18 have been identified by intelligence agencies as being gang members as of March 2021?

Hinds said the police "have not confirmed any persons under the age of 18 years as gang members.

"However, the police comes into contact with persons in that age group in circumstances where they are suspects or victims in criminal investigations.

"And in some limited circumstances, through a social intervention approach via community police and youth groups and other means of veering young people away from that kind of life, the Ministry of National Security has acknowledged the likelihood of at-risk youths being aligned to gangs."

He said the ministry's primary objective is to deter children from criminal associations.

"Gangs have been known to use persons in this category in various capacities as statures and lookouts to facilitate their criminal gang activities.

"Therefore, any attempt to quantify the number of persons in that age group who are members of gangs would not provide a true reflection of the situation as might possibly exist."

Because of this, he said, "the labelling of unofficial statistics" concerning children in gangs "has not been the practise of the police and would not be done unless and until the police is totally satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to support such a position."