Moonilal calls for CCTV cameras in Aripo after another body found

Dr Roodal Moonilal
Dr Roodal Moonilal

THE DAY after another body was found in the Heights of Aripo, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal is questioning why there are no CCTV cameras in the area.

In a media release on Wednesday Moonilal asked when the Government would instal cameras in “that dumping ground.”

In the last 14 months, three bodies have been found in the area.

The most recent was discovered on Tuesday afternoon by a power-walker at about 4.34 pm. Police reported that the body of a man had been found wearing a black jersey with white horizontal stripes, chequered coloured pants and black sneakers with white soles. He was found approximately five feet down in a ditch near LP42.

On January 28 the decomposing body of Keithisha Cudjoe, 21, was found in Aripo. Cudjoe, a gas station attendant from Harding Place, Cocorite, was last seen on January 24. She was reported missing the day her body was found and was identified three days later.

In January last year, the body of court clerk Andrea Bharatt was found a short distance away from Cudjoe's. Bharatt, 23, was abducted on her way home on January 29, 2021. Her body was found five days later.

Moonilal said National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds failed in acknowledging that half the CCTV cameras in the country are not working. He said Hinds has made no effort to rectify this or to provide a timeline for having it solved.

“The discovery of yet another decomposing corpse at the Heights of Aripo begs the question of when would the PNM Government instal CCTV cameras in that dumping ground” Moonilal said adding that the government refuses to implement any other proactive measures to “combat the soaring incidence of crime in that and many other communities around the country. “

Responding in Parliament on April 8 to questions about installing CCTV cameras, Hinds said: “Careful consideration must be given to site compatibility, including the availability of electricity supply, and the connectivity challenges at this remote location.

"Consideration must be given to these issues as regards the possible expansion of the CCTV network throughout TT, including at Aripo Heights.

"Discussions to this end continue with the relevant stakeholders, including the police service, the intelligence gathering agencies in TT, potential service providers, and experts in these matters to provide solutions.”

At the time he said of the 1,796 CCTV cameras throughout TT, 1,063 were fully functional, and 733 were considered either not fully functional or non-functional.

In 2019 Moonilal criticised the award of a $100 million CCTV-camera security system after the tender process was extended.

At the time Moonilal was speaking in Parliament. He said then that under former prime minister Patrick Manning, 389 cameras at $10,000 each per month plus VAT were to be leased from TSTT. Between 2010 and 2015 the People’s Partnership added 500 more cameras and set up four regional centres at a cost of $12,000 per camera.

In his media release he reiterated that the process used to extend the bidding process amounted to bid-rigging, which ought to be investigated.

Moonilal said, “The meandering replies of Hinds to persistent questions in the Parliament on the installation of CCTV cameras and his hollow declaration of 'consultations' with stakeholders since 2021 suggest that the government is clueless as to the use of this strategic option to prevent criminal conduct.”

In July last year Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales and Arima MP Pennelope Beckles witnessed the installation of seven LED streetlights as part of a 27-LED installation project along the Aripo Road.

"Trinidad and Tobago is continuing to bleed from an unrelenting rampage of savage murders, and the incompetent Rowley Government remains haughty and uncaring. The uselessness and bungling of the Rowley administration have now reached epic proportions while people are being slaughtered each day and TT has become one of the world’s most dangerous and brutal societies" he added.

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