Acting CoP: SoE threat averted, 10 detainees charged

Acting Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin has said the threat that led to the government calling the state of emergency (SoE) in December has been averted.

He said this was due to the work of the police service during the 103-day SoE.

The SoE was called on December 30. The Commissioner of Police at the time was Erla Harewood-Christopher and the Minister of National Security was Fitzgerald Hinds. The commissioner and minister made the announcement to the public along with then acting Attorney General Stuart Young.

The SoE ended at midnight on April 13. This meant the emergency powers given to the Minister of National Security and the police to detain people suspected of being involved in criminal or gang activity are no longer applicable.

The end of the SoE also saw scores of detainees being released, while Benjamin confirmed on April 13 that ten held under the emergency powers regulations were charged.

He said while police believe the threat was nullified, they will continue to work on keeping a grip on crime.

“There will always be the lingering presence of people who would want to threaten the security of TT, but because of the strategies that we have put in place during the SoE, we have been able to foil these plans.

“The threat has been averted, but we are very much cautious, and we will continue to operate as though the threat exists.

“If we give them the opportunity, the gangs will come back in full force. So we are continuing to be very diligent and vigilant in what we are doing, and we are going to be even more meticulous in what we are going to be doing in terms of our operations.”

In a phone interview, National Security Minister Marvin Gonzales assured the nation that the police and other arms of national security are working hand in hand to ensure that crime and criminality stay down.

“Law enforcement agencies are very much aware of the possibility of a spike in criminal activities as we come out of the SoE. That is why we have pledged to continue collaboration to monitor what is taking place and to ramp up the operations of the TTPS.

“We are speaking to our lawyers, we are looking at the legal framework we now have to operate, and we will use all the avenues available to ensure that we continue to support heightened police operations and visibility in TT.”

More robust policing promised

Addressing concerns of a spike in crime after the SoE ends, Benjamin said the police and other security agencies were anticipating the possibility.

“This is something we anticipated,” Benjamin said. “We knew that the SoE would not last forever, so from the very beginning we were working toward that, to ensure that after the SoE we would have been in a more advanced and prepared state.”

“Some people, I think, are waiting to see if we will stop. We are not going to stop, we are going to intensify. You are going to see a more robust approach.”

“We have anticipated what is about to happen, and we have put things in place. It is going to be a new normal and not the normal normal.”

Benjamin said the murder toll now stands at 112. For the same period, the year before the toll was 160. In 2023, the toll for the same period was 166. The murder toll for 2024 was 625, the highest murder toll in TT's history, breaking 2023’s rate of 605.

Benjamin said TT currently has 48 fewer murders than the year before.

“Our goal is to have at least a 10 per cent reduction as compared to last year. That is about 62 murders fewer. And we are already at 48, so we are heading in the right direction,” Benjamin said.

He said the police plan to have more targeted operations focusing on gangs and criminal activity.

He also added that police will continue working closely with other national security agencies, such as the Defence Force and the Coast Guard, to ensure there is synergy between the agencies.

Gonzales said weekly national security meetings, which started as part of the SoE, will continue.

“In our last meeting on Friday, one of the decisions we took was that these meetings will continue to strengthen our relationship, especially our intelligence operations and provide strategic support.”

“We are not just operating ‘vy-kee-vy.’ We are doing intelligence-led, evidence-based, technology-driven policing,” Benjamin added. “You are going to see directed patrols where we will be looking at strategic areas where we anticipate reprisals and gang activity, and we will have these places properly manned. We are going to use geo-sensory initiatives, and we have just rolled out what we call our response policy.”

We saw results

Gonzales said the SoE saw significant results, but the most pivotal was that there is now a deeper collaboration and stronger relationship between law enforcement agencies.

“Law enforcement agencies have reported that there is closer collaboration between various arms of intelligence agencies, which has led to successful executions of some of these police operations. It showed them why there needs to be continuous collaboration between the various arms of national security,” he said.

Gonzales said 20 people were detained through preventative detention orders, and close to 200 firearms were seized along with ammunition. All of this, Gonzales said, contributed to a reduction in crime.

“We have to look at the data,” he said. “The data is saying the rate of murders has declined by about 30 per cent compared to statistics from last year. Other serious crimes have seen a similar reduction, between 30 and 40 per cent.

“You have seen a ramp-up of police activities, operations and exercises. You are seeing a confiscation of large volumes of illicit drugs during that time.

“Given the fact that it was easier for officers to get search warrants to execute search warrants as part of their exercises, you would have seen a reduction as a result of these activities.”

Gonzales said the police approached the government in December with information leading them to believe there would be a serious threat to public safety as a result of attacks and retaliations by warring gang members.