(Trinidad Guardian) Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says the state will “redouble all efforts” in the fight against crime. He says the efforts will aim to curtail “these violent outbursts, will hunt down and disarm the perpetrators and will make operational adjustments so that the state security services can act with despatch against the violent cohort of our national population.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Dr Rowley said, “The current violent crime spree will not be tolerated.”
He added, “Notwithstanding the persistent efforts of the various state machinery, the selection of violence as a way of life, the love affair and glamorization of firearms and the wanton disregard for human life in Trinidad and Tobago has now gone beyond concerning to the ridiculous.”
The Prime Minister said the “intractable situation” demands that the law-abiding citizens be given the right to their peace and safety above the freedom of the lawless and the violent few who operate with impunity.
Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago’s President Christine Kangaloo has called out 100 members of the Trinidad and Tobago Volunteer Defence Force.
This move is meant to strengthen the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) capability towards the fulfilment of operational support to the Police Service (TTPS) to booster safety for the pre-Christmas season into the 2024 Carnival period.
In a proclamation dated October 30, stated, “Now, therefore, I, Christine Carla Kangaloo, President as aforesaid, hereby call out to duty, one hundred members of the Trinidad and Tobago Volunteer Defence Force for a period of one hundred and twenty-three days with effect from October 30, 2023 to February 29, 2024, to strengthen the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force capability towards the fulfilment of operational support to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service in the provision of a safe and secure environment during the pre-Christmas season to the 2024 Carnival period.”
Section 238(1) of the Defence Act, Chap. 14:01 allows the President to call out the Volunteer Defence Force or any portion of it for actual military service with their arms and ammunition, in aid of the civil power in any case in which a riot, disturbance of the peace, or other emergency requiring such service occurs, or is, in the opinion of the President, anticipated as likely to occur, and in either case to be beyond the powers of the civil authorities to suppress, or to prevent, or deal with.