Hinds: I wish I had public's full support on crime fight

National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has lamented that if he and law enforcement agencies received the full support of the public, much more could have been done in the fight against crime.

Hinds made the remarks during an official handover ceremony of draft policies on Firearm Users Licences (FULs) and border security at the Ministry of National Security, Temple Court, Abercromby Street, Port of Spain, on Monday.

Hinds said that between the Opposition's reluctance to support certain policies and the resistance from criminals, he felt a total of 70 per cent of society was against crime-fighting efforts.

Referring to reports that members of Jamaica's opposition party signalled their intention to withdraw support for state of emergencies in eight parishes, Hinds said TT's government faced similar challenges from Opposition members.

"Instead of a united fight very often we have some division even at the level of the Parliament.

"So I say 50 per cent want to fight rather than join in the fight and then the other 20 per cent I would say are those who are likely to commit crime and be involved in it and anti-social behaviour and so on. So I put 50 per cent and 20 per cent together to say 70 per cent because law-breakers and criminals don't want national security to succeed.

"But it will really be nice if we had full support but, even so, we understand the turf and understand what is required and fight we will."