MSJ: Too many SoEs will have negative effect

Political leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) David Abdulah has warned that while a state of emergency (SoE) may give national security forces powers to stop crime and criminal threats, calling one too frequently could dampen its effects.

Abdulah made the statement on July 20, days after an SoE was called in anticipation of a possible spike in criminal activity.

“There is the famous story of the boy who cried wolf too many times. When there really was a wolf, people didn’t take him on,” said Abdulah in a virtual press conference on July 20.

“What will happen is, going forward, the effectiveness of an SoE in terms of public acceptability will diminish. Several criminologists pointed out that it is not something that you could use too frequently, because it loses its edge, both in terms of effectiveness and public perception.”

Abdulah said evidence of the threat should be given in the form of arrests, charges and convictions.

“We heard the justification (and) the country would have to accept (it), because we have no reason to doubt what the Commissioner of Police says. But it is not enough for authorities to say (a threat) exists. We need to get further evidence of it. That has to come by way of people being charged for acts of terrorism, which go beyond gang violence, using anti-terrorism laws to charge people and bring them before the court.”

On July 18, President Christine Kangaloo declared an SoE after intelligence reached the police that leaders of major criminal gangs – some of whom are incarcerated – were uniting and plotting to murder key figures in the judiciary and arms of National Security.

Police also received evidence that criminals planned on terrorising the public through murders, kidnappings and robberies.

Abdulah said the announcement of the SoE was done in a “very unusual manner,” noting it was usual for an SoE to be announced by the government first, instead of the police.

“That is the constitutional and legal process. The president proclaims the SoE having been satisfied that conditions exist which require a state of public emergency. Those conditions and reasons have to be provided to her excellency by her cabinet. So, the announcement ought to have come from the government first.”

Abdulah also called for more permanent solutions to reducing crime instead of the temporary suppression of crime that comes with an SoE. He called for more social interventions, better education systems and guidance out of poverty.

“We need to address the problems of education systems that are failing our young people, that is leading our young people into the belief that the way for them to succeed in life is by a life of crime rather than a result of an education system that gives them hope for the future and an economic system that provides decent work.

“We need social intervention. Not so much having police in high-risk schools but social workers moving about in communities addressing issues of poverty household by household and helping people to move out of poverty and many other social interventions – more guidance counsellors in the schools to help young people who are in difficult circumstances and begin to deal with those difficult circumstances.”

The July 18 SoE is the second one declared in TT in six months. On December 30, then PNM government declared an SoE in response to similar evidence of possible elevated criminal activity.

That SoE lasted 105 days and came to an end on April 13.

In Jamaica, SoEs and Zones of Special Operations (ZoSO)s have been declared several times across the island since late 2017, which have essentially normalised emergency powers as a criminal justice tool. The latest SoE in Jamaica was in 2022, when it was enforced in nine of Jamaica’s 14 parishes including Clarendon, St Catherine, Westmoreland Hanover and parts of Kingston, St Andrew, St Ann and St James.