Hinds and our scary murders

Searching for explanations last week, acting CoP McDonald Jacob advised: “The importance of problems at the socio-economic levels in our community cannot be ignored and must be treated.”

Good, but deja vu. It is also time to ask: what are the results from the millions of welfare and unemployment grants?

With a scary murder rate climbing to 400, Jacob seems like a soldier caught in the middle of a war, a no-win war.

“I am no Superman,” Jacob modestly declared.

Feeling the heat, policy-maker Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds promised “5000 cameras for the country” and added: “I understand the trauma that TT is going through but flatly, it is not created overnight and it will not be eradicated overnight.” That’s it exactly. Critical thinking asks who was in office, who was responsible when this thing started?

Today, the PM has apparently allowed Hinds to neglect the required review for modernising the police service – whether in human resources, recruitment, entry qualifications and training from SRPs to sergeant, etc. No wonder there are so many charges against some officers, mainly junior ones. Entry into and the performance of the municipal police also need helpful review.

Hinds pointed to murders: domestic violence, drug-related, gang-related, relationships, etc.

But what about illegal immigration, deportees, detection rates, our criminogenic free-for-all borders, etc?

Jacob admitted: “The majority of guns and assault rifles used in crime here originate from the US and are brought through legitimate ports of entry.”

How about this, Mr Hinds? Especially when the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) in its 2021 report warned: “The continued arrival of illegal weapons and ammunition and the compromised integrity, of several state employees including Police, Customs, Coast Guard, Prison Officers, were signs that government agencies could eventually become compromised.”

Our democratic system of elected government requires effective performance and accountability. With escalating crime, nobody seems prepared to accept responsibility and suffer the expected consequences. The prime minister is ultimately responsible.

Three things here. One, don’t we realise that with murders rapidly moving upwards, the numbers inpolice homicide and related units remain relatively stagnant? Efficiency and results therefore decrease.

Two, who could be properly put in Mr Hinds’s place?

Three, what could he or she do differently?

My public-interest view is that Mr Hinds and Dr Rowley represent the system and its respective offices, and the extent to which each performs well or badly affects our system of government. Therefore, the overriding issue is nothing personal. It is striving for good government. And this principle applies to all political parties, intended or present: political credibility, integrity and accountability.

This “root causes of crime” issue now raised by many is an old story – poverty, failures of parenting, schooling, the church, politics, unemployment, community breakdown, etc. True, the vast majority of street criminals comprise lower-class people but the vast majority of lower-class people do not commit such crimes. That is why, as Jacob himself noted, statistics are not all. You need qualitative analyses for deeper understanding of “root causes.”

Further, in a democracy, how much can a government do to get delinquent parents to raise their children properly without violating privacy rights? “Parental training” has not worked. Too many are still outside. However, there are enough strong correlations to understand some “causes,” but there are limits to public policy. Knowing the “causes” doesn’t necessarily mean “solving” these “causes.”

Meanwhile, as helpful as it may be, the public is yet to understand UWI’s enterprising Dr Randy Seepersad's statistics and the distant assumptions. A newspaper report on Seepersad’s data stated: “The upper limits of this year’s forecast go as high as 763 deaths, with the lower limits being 407.”

We are already going over 400 murders, soon to cross this “lower limit.”

He then predicts: “2022 may end with 585 murders.”

Does it also mean that if the economic, sociological and psychological conditions for crime remain the same or get worse, the country will see 763 deaths?

Surprisingly, Jacob agreed with the scary speculation.

Calling for treatment of the “root causes of crime,” Dr Seepersad laments the well-known fact that “all successive governments have not placed enough emphasis on crime prevention…so they keep applying band-aids to the situation.”

Prevention takes a long time. Scary murders increase quickly.