Near-total breakdown of law and order in Trinidad and Tobago

THE EDITOR: As a national of Trinidad and Tobago currently domiciled in Tampa, Florida, due to medical issues, I am very saddened to witness the almost total breakdown of law and order in the land of my birth. It was not that very long ago we used to boast of the relative tranquility of my island home.

I recall the time when British policemen used to visit Trinidad during our annual Carnival to observe the policing methods applied by our policemen to ensure that Carnival was free of crime. It was our model of policing that they adapted, and in some cases adopted, to handle security issues with the staging of Notting Hill Carnival, which, lest we forget, was founded by Trinis.

The question that arises is: what has happened that has led to the daily bloodletting in our streets?

This is occurring when I am told over a dozen fast patrol boats lie idle at Staubles Bay that can be repaired and used to patrol our coastal areas to prevent the importation of arms, ammunition, drugs and hardened criminals from the South American mainland to partner with our home-grown criminals.

My sources in the military have also advised me that more than two dozen inflatable rafts that can be repaired and used by the Coast Guard are now stored at the Coast Guard hangar. If this is the case, what are the authorities doing to resolve this untenable situation?

Is it a question of lack of interest, bad management, or sheer incompetence? Where is the Minister of National Security in all of this, or, more aptly, where is the minister who's being labelled as an "all-rounder?" And all of this as many communities lay under water during floods and leaders remained in their safe havens in taxpayer-funded palatial residences.

This brings me to another issue which, if not addressed urgently, has the potential to put the final nail in the coffin of TT’s national security at the expense of the innocent population. I refer to the reported use of drones by elements external to the prisons to convey illegal items of a most dangerous kind to their gang members inside our prisons.

Are we going to wait for total anarchy to address this slide?

While this untenable situation is allowed to develop, my sources also tell me that technology for blocking phone calls sits idle. And it is also alleged that prisoners call shots from inside the prisons with murderous consequences on the streets of what was an island paradise.

The million-dollar question is: why isn't this technology being used to block incoming and outgoing calls to the prison?

Where's the accountability for lack of performance? Where's the performance appraisal being done to ensure that those who fail to carry out their sacred mandate to devise policies and strategies to protect the people are held accountable? Don't they realise that there can be no real development without peace?

STEVE THOMAS

Florida