New initiatives,ideas needed to fight crime

THE EDITOR: With TT reeling from six murders in 24 hours on Wednesday, over 200 murders for the year and rampant violence in schools, it goes without saying that brand new ideas and initiatives are needed to fight crime.

But who will generate these brand new ideas and initiatives? Will National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds do it?

Seeing that Hinds said “my duty is not to ensure that people feel safe and secure” and claims he is not responsible for drafting anti-crime plans, I doubt very much any new crime-fighting ideas or initiatives will come from him. After all, they are not his duty.

Will Commissioner of Police (CoP) Erla Harewood-Christopher generate these brand new ideas and initiatives?

Harewood-Christopher is on record as saying the country is dealing with an unnatural evil and requires divine intervention to fight crime. So perhaps tactical things like crime-fighting ideas and initiatives are not exactly her cup of tea. She does look lovely, however, when dressed for a tea party, such as the one recently held at the CoP residence.

What about the Prime Minister? Will we get brand new ideas and initiatives for fighting crime from Dr Rowley?

Under Rowley’s eight-year stewardship, TT has seen an unprecedented increase in violent crime and the highest murder rate in its history. Our citizenry has never been more scared or felt more hopeless.

There is an increase in town hall meetings to discuss crime, neighbourhood watch groups, and citizen patrols. The call for guns to protect ourselves, and even a state of emergency, has grown louder.

Yet Rowley refuses to hear the citizens’ cries to replace Hinds with someone who may be effective. And he has outrightly rejected former CoP Gary Griffith’s proposal to put aside politics and work together with him and the Opposition to fight crime.

We keep putting square pegs in round holes and expect them to perform. The Prime Minister himself stated when he was opposition leader, “If the government can’t deal with it [crime], then government itself is part of the problem.”

The bottom line is nothing will change unless something changes. So, I propose we change the Government. It is time to bring in fresh faces with different thinking, the political will, and a renewed vigour to deal with crime and the rest of the nation’s problems.

May God bless TT.

LEISHA S DHORAY

via e-mail