Moonilal hits lack of CCTV cameras, scanners

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal has lamented a lack of CCTV cameras nationwide and mobile scanners to help police fight violent crimes.

Addressing the UNC's weekly Sunday press briefing, Moonilal claimed that across TT, only 46 per cent of police CCTV cameras were working. Trinidad had 730 working CCTV cameras out of a complement of 1,607 cameras, he said.

Tobago also had fewer than half its CCTV cameras working, just 90 cameras out of 189.

He also complained that after $27 million was spent on mobile scanners which would let police detect guns hidden in passing vehicles, these devices were non-functional.

He claimed that at the Rural Development Company, tenders were "sharing out like nuts and doubles."

Moonilal wondered if the local government impasse was a precursor to Government attempting to postpone the general election, in the wake of what he described as national unpopularity.

"On Wednesday, Parliament is meeting (but) not to discuss local government (or) cure this crisis. Imagine the Government wants to debate property tax at a time when local government has collapsed."

He questioned the relevance of Government's bill to make Diego Martin and Siparia boroughs at a time when local government and its operations were null and void following the Privy Council's ruling on Thursday.

"We will stand strong in Parliament on Wednesday and we will demand, we will force, we will compel debate on local government election," he promised.