PM says crime spree will not be tolerated, President calls out volunteer soldiers

Shortly after eight people were killed in a 24-hour period, the Prime Minister said crime will not be tolerated and the President called out 100 soldiers to assist police during the pre-Christmas into Carnival period.

In a Facebook post, Dr Rowley said notwithstanding the persistent efforts of the various state machinery, the selection of violence as a way of life, the love affair and glamorisation of firearms and the wanton disregard for human life in TT has now gone beyond concerning to ridiculous.

His statement said, “This intractable situation now demands that the law-abiding citizens be given the right to their peace and safety above the freedom of the lawless and the violent few who operate with impunity.”

He added that the state would redouble its efforts to stop these “violent outbursts,” hunt down and disarm perpetrators and make operational adjustments so that the state security services can act with “despatch against the violent cohort of our national population.”

Prior to this, President Christine Kangaloo called out 100 soldiers to assist the police during the pre-Christmas into Carnival season.

In a proclamation gazetted on October 30, Kangaloo said the soldiers would be called out from October 30 to February 29 next year and this was to, “strengthen the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force capability towards the fulfilment of operational support to the Trinidad and Tobago police service in provision of a safe and secure environment during the pre-Christmas season to the 2024 Carnival period.”

It said the Defence Act provided, among other things, that the President call out the volunteer Defence Force or any portion of it for actual military service with their arms and ammunition, in aid of the civil power in any case in which a riot, disturbance of the peace, or other emergency requiring such service occurs, or is, in the opinion of the President, anticipated as likely to occur, and in either case to be beyond the powers of the civil authorities to suppress, or to prevent, or deal with.