(Trinidad Guardian) With growing concerns about the country’s rising crime and murder rate, which now stands at 303, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday summoned divisional heads of the Police Service to a meeting where he again pressed home the point that they must manage the crime situation.
During the meeting at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, Rowley pointed out that in order to bring the situation under control, one of the critical things initially was for the heads to mobilise those in their command to ensure that a higher visibility of police on the streets was achieved.
Rowley chaired the meeting as head of the National Security Council and had a frank discussion with the heads, “putting his cards on the table and making it clear he was unhappy about the crime situation,” a well placed Government source told T&T Guardian last evening.
The meeting was “positive, fruitful and frank” and Rowley “detailed what he expected” and “advised” the divisional heads and acting commissioner of police, Harold Phillip, that they needed to “manage the crime situation.”
He, however, left the crime-fighting strategies to the experts, telling them that “the rank and file of the police have the capacity to implement the strategies and get the results which the head of the National Security Council so desires.”
Divisional heads were said to have been inspired by the frank discussions and applauded the Prime Minister for the initiative. It was the first time that some of the heads had been called to such a meeting.
Sources said while no time frame was set, Rowley made it clear the onus was on divisional heads to “operationalise certain plans with the ultimate aim of increasing solvability and suppressing serious crime,” to produce positive results “to make Trinidad and Tobago a safer place.”
Asked whether there was any discussion on additional resources required to bolster the crime- fighting efforts, sources said the divisional heads were advised to conduct audits on their resources and “to mobilise as they see fit.”
They were told that must result in an “increased police presence to suppress untoward conduct and that police officers must be out in the field in full force.”
Sources said while there was an admission there was “no quick fix to crime,” it was felt police officers must be more proactive in the fight against crime and become more accountable.
Divisional heads were told that initiatives put in place must be reviewed and tweaked when it was deemed necessary. There is now optimism that “people will see the fruit of what will be implemented.”
Last Saturday, the T&T Guardian highlighted the nine divisional heads and all of them revealed the issues in their division and some of their initiatives for dealing with crime.
Yesterday’s meeting included other members of the National Security Council, among them National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and came mere days before the Prime Minister is scheduled to meet with Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to discuss the crime problem.
Persad-Bissessar yesterday confirmed she would be meeting Rowley on Friday and her team proposed to bring to the agenda several issues, including legislative matters, administrative issues, civil society and public stakeholder relations, non-partisan parliamentary partnerships and a framework for continued co-operation.
