Chief Secretary worried by Tobago's murder rate

AS THE year fast draws to a close, Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has admitted that the record-breaking murder rate in Tobago is the one issue that has left him most concerned.

At the time this article was written, the murder toll for the island stood at 13, with the last three homicides taking place within a 24-hour period earlier this week.

On Tuesday, Tobago recorded its 11th murder while a day later, two more people were shot dead while liming outside a bar in Bon Accord. Of those 13 murders, 12 were committed with firearms.

Questioned about a motive regarding Tobago's 12th and 13th murder, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP ­– Tobago) Collis Hazel told Newsday: “They are all gang related. They were known persons to the police as being involved in gangs. Gangs are fighting for turf and for money and drugs.”

In bringing motions of Christmas and New Year’s greetings during the final plenary sitting for 2023 at the Assembly Legislature in Scarborough on Thursday, Augustine said what was most concerning to him were news reports that the majority of the recent murders in the island were gang related.

"Persons known to the police and known to be in gangs that originate out of Trinidad but (whose members) are from Tobago, which says the gang culture is becoming nationalised as opposed to localised to particular regions,” Augustine told the assembly.

He said in the new year, serious action must be taken.

“We have to have a very frank conversation about the crime-fighting strategies on the island and what’s working and what’s not working. Because if we have persons being killed and then the reports would say they were a member of this gang and that they were known to police, then certainly the strategy cannot be to wait until they are killed.”

Augustine called for effective strategies in apprehending suspects and reforming delinquent individuals.

“There must be a strategy to apprehend and reform our youngsters before things get out of hand, because there would be collateral damage for people not involved in gang activity.

We have to sit and have that hard conversation, which means we have to look beyond roadblocks and asking for your license and insurance as a way of treating with high levels of criminality.”

Crime economist Anslem Richards said news of 12 out of the island's 13 murders committed this year were gun-related, came as no surprise to him.

“That pattern or observation is not far from the national context. We all know that firearms are the weapon of choice in the country – so once it's available, and you have a proliferation of illegal firearms in the streets, this would be a natural result or phenomena. So I am not surprised at all.”

He said there was need to implement a sustainable programme towards getting illegal firearms off the streets and out of the hands of criminals. "Or else the bloodshed will continue on our streets and in our villages and communities.”

He said it was clear that gang-related crimes had taken root in Tobago.

Improvements in border security for the island must be a consideration in any anti-crime plan for Tobago, as illegal firearms are imported from Trinidad and/or other countries.

“Our borders are porous – so we have to sit down as a country and tackle this from two angles. We have to contain the situation by locking down the borders so it won't be so easy to have illegal firearms coming in. Then we have to have an internal programme that speaks to the recovery of those firearms already in Tobago, seizure and destruction, and the prosecution of those found with illegal weapons.”

He said any anti-crime initiative must be organised and co-ordinated, warning that criminals are also getting better organised and co-ordinated.

“It has to be a deliberate set of activities designed to achieve the desired outcomes by police and all the other related state agencies. It must be an all-of-TT effort. We can't solely leave it up to the politicians, all of us in the communities which are affected by the use of illegal firearms and by the murders, have to make our contribution in getting rid of illegal firearms.”

He added: “We have to work with the police, we have to provide them with information, we have to co-operate." He said people in communities are the ones who where who have the illegal firearms, and silence can be tantamount to aiding these criminals "who can one day use these same firearms against our children and our relatives.”

Chairman of the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Tobago Division) Curtis Williams said crime in Tobago must be very concerning to everyone.

“It is not something that we should take lightly but we are definitely calling on the ACP Tobago and his men to really do something to tackle this upsurge in criminal activities on the island.”

He added: “We also would ask the ACP if in January, we would send an invitation for the Commissioner of Police to visit us in Tobago so we can put together a proper plan for the island going forward.”

Tobago, Williams said, “is not accustomed to these kinds of crimes and we definitely have to protect locals and tourists especially as tourism is the island's lifeblood.”

Contacted from comment, chairman of the Tobago Business Chamber Martin George said his chamber has and continues to condemn all acts of violence and criminality.