CoP: Gangs recruiting 14-year-old boys

CRIMINAL gangs in Trinidad and Tobago are recruiting members as young as 14, 15 and 16-years-old into their ranks. Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith made this disclosure to members of the National Security Joint Select Committee on Monday. In doing so, he lamented that the absence of effective anti-gang legislation could reverse gains being made by the police to deal with criminal gangs in the country.

During a virtual meeting held by the JSC, Griffith said the police are seeing the ages of people being recruited into gangs is "getting much younger." He continued, "The window of opportunity is there for them." Griffith said young boys are targeted by gang members "who pull them in, sometimes put them as a sentry, sometimes they give them a firearm and then we have the unfortunate situation, where they have a firearm and then they confront with the police."

He added this could lead to a situation where a police officer could shoot a young person. Noting that gangs in major US cities engage in similar recruitment practices, Griffith said, "This is not new." After noting there are approximately 134 criminal gangs in TT and they have a total membership of 1,056 people, Griffith said this is why it is critical to develop systems to make it difficult for young people to be lured into gangs."It makes it virtually impossible for us to do anything now because, now it is legal to be a gang member. It is legal for a gang leader to contact any young person and ask them to join the gang."

Noting the recent failure of Parliament to pass effective anti-gang legislation, Griffith said that legislation "was very critical to provide us with that strength and tools to give us that pressure to be involved in gangs and gang activity." He continued, "By removing the anti-gang legislation, it has now been easier that a gang member can put a full-page advertisement to vulnerable youths and say: 'Listen, you can easily join us now.'"

While the number of criminal gangs in TT has declined from 211 to 134 from 2018 to 2020, Griffith warned this situation can now cause the number of gangs to increase again. He added that the success of anti-gang legislation was not in the number of people arrested but in the systems put in place to stifle gangs and prevent them from operating. Griffith also observed that a former attorney general (Anand Ramlogan) is currently arguing that people charged with murder should have an opportunity to access bail.

Ramlogan is the lead counsel for Akilli Charles, a former murder accused, who spent nine years on remand before he was discharged in 2019 on a no-case submission. He has filed a constitutional claim which seeks to have the court declare unconstitutional provisions of the Bail Act which prescribe no bail for murder.

Special Investigations Unit Sgt Lyndon Fraser told JSC members that a total of 48 people have been charged under the Anti-Gang Act but none of them have been convicted to date. Griffith also cited community policing and the Commissioner's Cup as other strategies used by the police to keep young people out of criminal gangs. He said it was wrong to say that all police officers are community police officers, as claimed by one of his predecessors.