Beachgoers hope for better crime situation in 2024

Beachgoers on Monday said they were hoping for a better crime situation in 2024.

This as the country recorded its first murders for 2024.

One man was killed in Belmont less than six hours into the new year, another was killed later in Tobago.

Speaking with families who visited Williams Bay in Chaguaramas, many expressed hope for a change in the crime situation but said they had little expectation that they would see it any time soon.

The Ballantine family, who said beach limes were a regular tradition for them on New Years Day, described crime in TT as “crazy, horrible and unpleasant.”

The family’s patriarch, Ryan Ballantine said, “It has you scared. You can’t go out and lime, you have to keep your doors closed.”

He said he did not anticipate any turnaround in the situation soon, as fixing it was not an overnight operation.

“It will take a long while. It will take same length of time that it took to degrade for it to be corrected.”

Ballantine said he believed the state of the economy was linked to crime adding, “Crime can't done, because things so hard and not everybody wants to work hard.”

He said the duty lay with parents and the wider community to work together to address crime.

“Long ago, once you see a child doing something wrong you could correct them even if they aren’t yours. Now people don’t want others to correct their child, but they need to accept that, because it starts at home.”

The Scindian family also reminisced on how the country had changed with one member saying crime had now sky-rocketed compared to when he was young, before adding he had no hope at all that things would change.

“It’s overwhelming. A little too outrageous. If you really watch it, from when I was young to how children growing up now, it is totally, totally different.”

The Edwards family said they felt crime is getting “a little out of hand.”

“Trinidad supposed to be a paradise, but now we don't feel safe going out and that kind of thing.

"I'm hoping in the new year that we could kind of get the crime situation under control because that is what Trinidad really supposed to be…a paradise.”

They also said, while they hoped to see less crime in 2024, they “realistically know it's not a short-term thing,” adding that they believed it “is going to take some doing.”

Members of the Mohammed family called for National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds to be fired as the crime levels were overbearing.

“Crime touches and affects everyone and we no longer have any freedom. We feel insecure when we go out,” said one family member.

Devon Gonzales who was also there with his family suggested another fix for the crime situation.

“Love is the answer. The solution to crime is love. Nothing else could solve that. Only love.”

Gonzales was one of several parents who also expressed concern over the reopening of schools on Tuesday.

He said schools should open next week instead, to give parents the opportunity to accumulate the supplies needed for the new school term.

“To me it’s too soon. I think everybody will be ready for next week Monday.”

The Mohammed family shared similar sentiments with one of the children saying she was unhappy as she disliked school and did not want to return so soon.

Another family member said while her children have already finished school, she was not looking forward to the traffic experienced when school reopens.

The Ballantine family all agreed that the children and parents would have liked “a few extra days” before school reopened.

They said, in spite of this, they were ready and had ensured the children’s belongings were prepared and organised anyway.

The Scindians were divided on the matter as one man said he felt the children had enough time at home while a female relative said she felt it was too soon for the children to return.

The Edwards said their child’s school reopens next week, and they hoped to take full advantage of that.

“Her school opens on January 9, so she has a little time again. That means tomorrow we don't have a face the traffic and all of that. And if we're lucky, we could maybe hit the next beach again sometime this week.”