PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds Tuesday acknowledged that Trinidad and Tobago, like other countries in the Caribbean, is facing a crime problem. Still, it dismissed the opposition concerns that the government has not been able to implement the recommendations of a 2020 report on crime in depressed communities.
“It is incorrect to say that nothing has come out of the Anthony Watkins report. That is narrow-minded and ignorance on the part of the leader of the opposition, “Hinds said, adding, “We acknowledge that there is a crime problem in the country, in the region, and in the world; we are focused on dealing with it.”
Addressing a public meeting of her main opposition, United National Congress (UNC), along the east-west corridor on Monday night, Kamla Persad Bissessar said that Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley had appointed the Anthony Watkins committee in 2020 “to investigate crime in depressed communities.”
She said she was reiterating the call for the implementation of the recommendations of that committee because of the massacre in Cocorite over the weekend, west of here, where gunmen shot and killed four people and injured several others in a mass shooting incident.
She said that the killings formed part of “the ongoing bloody murders in communities across the country. Listen to audio
‘Since 2020, we have never heard a single thing about that committee, nothing about their recommendations and nothing about the government’s adoption of any measures to curb crime,” she said, noting that since March this year, there have been three mass shootings with illegal firearms.
She said over last weekend, a total of 17 shootings occurred, with 11 being fatal.
“When you look at those photos, you wonder if we are in Gaza, if we are in a battle zone, but these are our citizens,” she said, telling supporters that the opposition would not be supporting efforts by the government to amend the Firearm Act that she insisted would make it much more difficult or law-abiding citizens to access legal weapons.
“They want to make it harder for you to get legal firearms, and they want to take away those who already have legal guns. As I say, we will fight them. They are doing everything they can to get criminals to attack you.
“They are recommending guns free zones…in the Parliament, they said courts, colleges child centers, bars and places of worship and any government or private buildings declared by the minister…and the next place they will say is in front of your house.
“When gunmen come to your house and attempt to rape your daughter, to rape your wife, to rape your sister. I ask the men in this crown what do you do? You stand your ground; they say you cannot have a legal firearm in any of these safe places, so you will have to leave it at home…the gunmen and the bandits will know you don’t have (weapons).
“So now it becomes not a safe zone for you and your family, but will become a safe zone for the criminals and the bandits,” the opposition Leader said, “ adding, “Do you agree we should not support these amendments?”.
But Hinds said Persad Bissessar was telling untruths with regards to the Watkins report, which he received when he was the minister of youth, and that recommendations from that report have been implemented.
“I was the one who received that report,” he told radio listeners, adding that the present minister “is implementing many aspects of that report.”
He said that, according to the recommendations, the prime minister established a stand-alone ministry to deal with youth development and concerns. “I can tell you that all of the programs designed and implemented quite successfully through that ministry…are part of the recommendations of the Anthony Watkins report.
He criticized Persad Bissessar over her remarks about “bloodletting and demonic,” saying, “ I don’t know where she is getting that.” Listen to audio
He recalled that when Persad Bissessar served as head of the coalition government between 2010 and 2015, she declared a state of emergency “after a weekend with 11 murders in this country, six of which occurred in one go…”
Hinds said that the government has considered crime a significant public health issue. Recently, the prime minister announced that TT$100 million (One Tt dollar=US$ 0.16 cents) would be spent on community development.
So far this year, 199 people have been murdered in Trinidad and Tobago. Last year, the country recorded 575 murders.
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