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“[…] Individuals in authority cannot stand before the population and openly claim criminals have weapons of war, the relevant agencies have the information, a SOE was required to disable the threat; and then say the weapon was never found, with no follow up to the population.
“How can we the people believe the threat has been neutralised? […]”
The following Letter to the Editor on Trinidad and Tobago’s state of emergency was submitted to Wired868 by Nigel Seenathsingh of San Fernando:
Photo: TTPS.
The “imminent threat” which prompted Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro to approach the National Security Council for a state of emergency to be declared on 18 July has been “neutralised”.
This is welcomed news by any right-thinking, law-abiding citizen of this country. That being said, however, the statement by the commissioner raises other questions in the minds of the population.
In the “neutralisation” of this imminent threat, how many of the perpetrators face charges and or has been arrested for such a major act of violence against this nation?
One would assume that concrete evidence has been gathered against these criminals. We the people want to be confident that they no longer pose a threat, and that the law would now be strongly enforced.
At the start of this SOE, we heard from those in charge that corrupt prison officers were colluding with criminals, and heavy artillery such as rocket launchers were the weapons to be used if the SOE was not enforced.
Now that the Commissioner has gotten his request for the SOE to be implemented one would expect to see corrupt prison officers facing the courts for their betrayal of public trust and their involvement in criminal activities.
I lost sleep knowing that some evil doer had in his possession a rocket launcher with the intention of unleashing terror at any moment. I prayed that the individual and the weapon be found and taken off the street.
While the citizens understand that in order for national security to be effective certain information needs to be confidential, you cannot sow fear to create a SOE by talk of a rocket launcher but then say the situation was taken care of—without saying what happened to said rocket launcher.
Apart from the transfers of prisoners to more secure locations, there has been no equivalent response to the magnitude of threat claimed by those in authority.
Without charges being laid against the colluding prison officers, are we to assume that they are still in the service planning their next move?
I have written and continue to write in support of the police and all members of the protective services. There is no doubt in my mind that the commissioner of police has the country’s best interest at heart.
However as the head of the Police Service, he has to provide accountability to not only politicians but to the citizens as well.
Photo: Office of the Parliament 2025.
In previous letters, I urged the population to once again put trust and faith and respect the protective services—this goes both ways.
Individuals in authority cannot stand before the population and openly claim criminals have weapons of war, the relevant agencies have the information, a SOE was required to disable the threat; and then say the weapon was never found, with no follow up to the population.
How can we the people believe the threat has been neutralised?
Photo: Office of the President.
There is a new government at the helm and a new commissioner of police. In the past people complained that the former government was oppressive by ticketing errant motorists. Now we have the Minister in charge presenting awards to the officers that hand out the most tickets.
To the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago: look beyond politics, support the police, and do your part to make our country safer. And to those in charge of the crime fight, stop playing politics with crime.
End the: they did it so we doing it too. The country voted, you are in charge—stop the blame game and let’s work together for the greater good of all.
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