UNC kickstarts public anti-crime talks

With the much-touted crime talks between Government and the Opposition seemingly dead and buried, the United National Congress (UNC) is set to kick off a series of public anti-crime consultations beginning on January 15.

The first is a town hall meeting at 6 pm at La Joya Complex Auditorium. Pathologist Prof Hubert Daisley, Dr Indira Rampersad and former police commissioner Gary Griffith are expected to be among the speakers.

These anti-crime consultations come on the heels of a bloody start to the year, with over 15 murders committed in the first week of 2024.

In 2022, there were 605 murders (a national record) and 575 murders were committed last year.

During an interview on the Keep It Real Politics & More podcast on Tuesday – according to a press release from the podcast's moderator, Leisha S Dhoray – Griffith expressed high hopes for these consultations.

Dismissing the view that they were a political ploy, Griffith said crime cannot be solved by having politicians sit down at a table and discuss legislation, as suggested by the Government.

“That now just becomes a subcommittee of Parliament. That is not what it (anti-crime talks) was for,” he said during the interview on the podcast.

Griffith said his intention in attending the bipartisan anti-crime talks was to explain the tactical, strategic, and operational systems that could be used to fight crime.

He endorsed Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar's approach of engaging the public and highlighted the importance of listening to the public’s concerns, needs and recommendations.

“Many of the policies I put in place (as CoP) were because of listening to the man on the street. I visited all 70-odd police stations within my first two months as commissioner. Almost every night, I was on the street, in patrols and operations roadblocks, without the media even knowing,” he said.