Top cop laments young people in crime

Police Commissioner Erla Christopher is hopeful that the launch of a new community-based intervention project will go a long way towards discouraging criminal behaviour among youths.

Christopher made the remarks during her feature address at the launch of Project Phoenix at the Belmont Community Centre, Jerningham Avenue, on Wednesday morning.

Referring to information shared during the two-day regional symposium on crime as a public health issue earlier this week, Christopher said the trend of young people falling into crime was a common issue across the Caribbean.

She said she empathised with the challenges facing communities, and it was unfortunate when young people turn to crime as a means of supporting themselves.

"As commissioner, I understand the pain and trauma that families face when young men and women run into challenges and have to face my officers and the courts.

"Believe me when I say it is not what we want to have to deal with. It gives us no pleasure when we have to exercise our duty and responsibility in addressing crime and we are confronted with young men and women.

"On a national scale, what we are seeing is...youths between the ages of 15 and 29 among the country's crime victims, as well as the main offenders of violent crimes."

Christopher said 33 per cent of the victims of all violent crimes last year were in this age bracket.

Referring to her address at the crime symposium, Christopher said new approaches were needed to address these trends, which would be supported by the police Victim and Witness Support Unit.

"Hand in hand with violent crime, we are seeing guns, gangs and drugs seeking to take control of our communities, and it is critical that we find a way to break this hold decisively and permanently."

Newsday tried to speak with Christopher after the launch, but was told she would not be accepting questions.

Also at the launch was Port of Spain North/ St Ann's West MP Stuart Young, who endorsed the efforts of the police, and Belmont councillor Nicole Young, who was also involved in the programme.

Young said in addition to "hard policing" strategies, community intervention programmes which specialise in conflict resolution and psycho-social support were necessary to prevent violent crimes before they happened.

Referring to situations where a simple disagreement could escalate to assault and possibly murder, Stuart Young said the intervention of a neutral third party could save lives.

"You have a lot of violence that may take place at a domestic level as well, between neighbours, so programmes like this...have a direct positive intervention – just a listening ear, someone with the experience, a mental-health professional who will say, 'Hold on. This is not the way to deal with a conflict. Sleep on this and tomorrow you all can meet me down at the community centre to talk about it.'

"That will now prevent a negative statistic from taking place.

"That is what this programme is about."

Young said outside of crime prevention, the project also served as a means of providing mental-health support to people in the community who needed emotional support because of the difficulties of everyday life.

Nicole Young said she recognised the need for more direct mental-health support services in her community and commended the initiative, which she said would bring quality care closer to her residents.