Aranguez pundit wants crime statistics

OUTSPOKEN and somewhat controversial pundit Satyanand Maharaj has written to the Commissioner of Police asking for crime statistics based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, location and religion for the first five months of the year.

The Aranguez-based pundit was recently condemned for statements he made at a public meeting on the crime situation in his community.

However, in a freedom of information request sent to the commissioner on Sunday, Maharaj said there have been growing concerns that residents of East Indian descent are the main targets of crime in Aranguez.

He specifically wants to know if the police’s Crime and Problem Analysis Branch compiled statistics and data on crimes by key indicators such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion (of the perpetrator and victim), age, geographical location of victims and perpetrators, their educational status and income levels.

The statistics he wants are for the first five months of the year or up to May 10.

In the request, Maharaj's lawyers said his statements in April on the Indo-Trinidadian community being disproportionately targeted by young urban African gun-toting bandits generated much debate.

“Based on media reports, our client has formed the clear and unmistakable impression that the vast majority of victims of home invasions are from the East Indian community. He has been wrongly criticized by several prominent persons in the media for daring to raise the racial dimension to the crime of home invasion

“One of the justifications advanced by his critics was that he did not provide any statistics or empirical data. This is a curious criticism as it is not the responsibility of any citizen to monitor crime and compile such statistics. Indeed, this responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the State and the police service.

The request also said, “A cursory glance at the media reports supports the view that Indo-Trinidadians are disproportionately the victims of home invasions in the Aranguez area and in Trinidad in general.

“Our client believes that the publication of statistical and/or empirical data to the public is the key to strategic planning for the reduction of crime.”

Maharaj is represented by Freedom Law Chambers, led by former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, SC.

The request said there was a need for deeper analysis and understanding of criminal activity.

“Statistics will allow the COP and the Government to make an intelligent and informed decision about where they should implement certain strategies and how they should target certain vulnerable groups including both the perpetrator and the victims of crime.

“This is especially the case because Trinidad and Tobago has recently been ranked sixth in the world for crime,” the request said.

It also said police departments around the world published their statistics and data on crime, singling out the UK’s Metropolitan police.

The request said there was “no need to shy away from compiling such empirical data” or for the police to be “politically correct in clinically and objectively analysing the statistics and data regarding criminal offences.”

“Such an approach would be most unfortunate as it creates an illegible entanglement between the TTPS and the ruling political party in the government of the day.

“The TTPS is an independent institution and has a critical role in the fight against crime. It, therefore, has a duty to compile such statistics in the public interest to ensure that its resources, policies and strategies, in the fight against crime, are not misdirected.”

Maharaj said the continuous rise in serious and violent crime over the last seven years “has caused people to lose confidence in the ability of the TTPS to solve crime.”

“The detection remains abysmally low and successful prosecutions are a rarity.”

He also said, “ In these circumstances, the TTPS requires visionary leadership and expertise to devise policies and strategies that can be effective. If our newly appointed first female COP continues to do the same thing in the hope of a different result, she is sadly mistaken.”

Quoting murder statistics for the first quarter of 2023, Maharaj said TT was in the “throughs of the tsunami of serious and violent crime” and if crime-fighting measures and policies are measured by reference to the results, “then they have all been an abysmal failure.”

He said there was an urgent need for a different approach and a new paradigm of thinking in crime-solving efforts.

“There is no rational justification for the reluctance on the part of the TTPS to compile statistics and empirical data by reference to key indicators such as age, sex, level of education, income level, geography, race or ethnicity, religion, of the perpetrators and the victims of crime.

“Such empirical data will allow the TTPS and the Government to make an informed and intelligent decision regarding its crime-fighting policies and strategies and where it should direct its resources.”

The commissioner was given 3- days to respond to Maharaj’s request for information. In the request, attorney Vishaal Siewsaran also said failing which a judicial review application will be filed to compel the commission to provide a response.