Rowley's $100m crime plan: Soldiers for crime hotspots

THE Prime Minister said he would soon direct the Finance Minister to allocate $100 million to be spent by the TT Defence Force (TTDF) in certain communities where development is stymied by crime.

Dr Rowley made this statement at a PNM public meeting in San Juan on January 18.

Referring to earlier comments in the meeting by National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds about citizens in some communities being deprived of certain amenities because of the actions of criminals there, Rowley said he would instruct Finance Minister Colm Imbert to make $100 million available for development in certain communities with high levels of crime.

"The money that we will make available, as I am describing here, will be made available to the Defence Force leadership."

Rowley said this money will used by the TTDF "to retain and to hire reserve officers or retired officers and recruits, to go into those communities and ensure that what has to be built is built."

"Where security has to be on the street, it is there and when people can rely on them (TTDF) and not the local don who believes that they are somehow bigger than the Government and the people of TT."

Rowley told PNM supporters, "I have faced this before."

He recalled being a Cabinet minister in the 1991-1995 Patrick Manning administration when it advanced an affirmative-action programme to deal with young African men in urban areas who had begun to drift away into a life of crime.

"That programme was meant to stop that."

Rowley said the programme was never implemented, as the then Opposition UNC accused the PNM of discrimination against those people, and the PNM described the programme as a misprint.

"The chickens have come home to roost. That was 15 years ago."

Rowley said, "So when I say I'm going to do what I'm going to do now, I'll brook no obstruction from anybody on the other side. I will do what has to be done."

He added, "No criminal in this country could take the position that the Government must give deference to you because you have a gun or you have access to a gun."

Rowley said, "The state and the people of TT must stand predominant in this country."

He then reiterated his condemnation of the Opposition UNC at a news conference earlier in the day for initiatives such as a state of emergency (SoE) and giving people greater access to legal firearms to reduce crime.

On the latter, Rowley said people already have the right to access firearms legally.

"But we do not subscribe to the principle of, if there is money to be made in FUL (Firearm User's Licence), that we give out as much FUL as possible, enrich yourself by giving everybody a gun."

Rowley told PNM supporters when he asked a former police commissioner about whether someone on a rape charge could be granted an FUL, the former commissioner hesitated before saying, "No."

"I happen to have known that he granted a firearm to a person who was on a rape charge and a number of other criminal charges."

He said the UNC had no interest in reducing crime because it believed they could benefit politically from it.

Rowley described this action as "subscribing to Satan, to sin."

After saying the country was awash with illegal weapons and ammunition, Rowley (who is National Security Council chairman) said he was certain that much legally imported ammunition has ended up in the hands of criminals.

He spoke of a situation in which a former police commissioner allowed a firearms dealer to import 20 million rounds of ammunition.

"Is this Beirut? Is this Gaza? Is this Yemen?"

Rowley said there was a period in the recent past where police were not going out and checking licensed firearm dealers "so they could account for every gun and for every bullet that comes into this country.
"As a result of that, I have to come to the conclusion that there was significant leakage because there was money to be made.

"No unlicensed illegal gun holder could walk into any dealer and buy ammunition, because it has to be recorded to get it."

He spoke about a case in which police encountered a dealer with no books to account for the firearms and ammunition imported and sold.

After reiterating PNM claims that several UNC members have potential criminal questions to answer, Rowley questioned the newfound friendship between Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her former national security minister Gary Griffith.

He reminded PNM supporters that Griffith is a witness in a case against one of his former Cabinet colleagues, and advised people to monitor that matter.

Rowley also recalled that Persad-Bissessar distanced herself from former UNC chairman Jack Warner until he cleared himself of corruption allegations against him when he was FIFA vice president.

He said Warner had not been cleared of those allegations.

Rowley claimed both cases were examples of Persad-Bissessar's having no principles.