“[…] The Heights of Aripo has long been used by criminals to dispose of bodies and evidence. In a bid to turn their neighbourhood into an unsafe haven for the criminals, the poor, frightened residents are requesting assistance and basic amenities. Nothing fancy, just streetlights, a police post and, maybe, …
Read More »Noble: Who really cares? How shallow protests ignore chance for real change
‘Poor children are victims of circumstance/ In life they never really get a chance/Or have opportunities as privileged children do/ The road from the poor suburb to prison leads them/ From broken homes they are condemned to fail/ Their abusive and drug-addicted parents serving time in jail/ Their parents too …
Read More »Dear Editor: The death penalty won’t make our women or girls safe
Once again, the Catholic Commission for Social Justice (CCSJ) and the Greater Caribbean for Life (GCL) urge T&T’s government to focus on human development and crime prevention rather than expend time and energy in seeking to resume hanging. CCSJ and GCL are aware that passions are running high in T&T …
Read More »Noble: Tackling poverty: the slower (vital) route to shutting down T&T crime factory
With the two shootings in East Port of Spain and the mystery of the San Fernando ‘kidnappings’, the uncertainty of life in our country is writ large. Fear stalks. These circumstances have the potential to paralyse the commercial life of Port of Spain on one hand and to drive deeper …
Read More »Daly Bread: 25 years of making excuses: the state repeatedly fails to punish and prevent murder
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made a chilling, although realistic, admission about murder in our country and its clear and present danger at all times and in every place. The prime minister was commenting on the murder and robbery at a Tobago supermarket in which a security …
Read More »Daly Bread: The acclamation of words; why we don’t need foreign experts to fight crime
As violent crime continues to overwhelm us, I noted last week the prime minister’s apparent adoption of the concept of violence as ‘a public health issue’ and his intention (unnecessarily as we shall see) to seek the assistance of a foreign expert on the subject. The concept has been around …
Read More »SALAAM: Talk yuh talk, Madam President; but when will T&T see the light? When will the wicked no longer reign?
In a powerful and moving maiden address to the nation she now heads, newly installed President Paula-Mae Weekes urged us all to “…confront the darkness and declare that it will not take over.” I wonder about her tense. From early boyhood, I have repeatedly heard that what is to is must …
Read More »Dear Editor: Enough! Time for Arima to walk the talk and stop criminals in their tracks
“The anti-violence walk has now been transformed into the more positive ‘Arima Walk for Peace’ and the timeliness of the call to Arima people to join with us—this hits a raw nerve—will be seen tomorrow when we expect to actively involve many hundreds of ordinary, decent, hard-working people in a …
Read More »Dear Editor: Anti-Gang Bill no panacea for crime; change of culture of Police Service needed
“The Anti-Gang Bill, sunset clause or not, suffers from the same ills as every other piece of legislation in Trinidad and Tobago: to be effective, it must be enforced! For enforcement to take place, the Police Service needs to do a better job, a much, much better job. To ascertain …
Read More »STREET VIBES: Fuad, we Khan take no more! T&T sick of doctors’ irresponsible behaviour
To say that the level of irresponsibility in this nation is lamentable is an understatement; we could accurately use much stronger language. But the discovery of a foetus in the refrigerator of a doctor’s office in South gave us a clear demonstration of precisely how pathetic and irresponsible some people …
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