It is folly for us to be absorbed with the issue of the sniper rifles and not address the more significant problem of crime. The rifles are not missing. Our appreciation of how much our security forces are struggling with the criminal developments that plague us is our business. The …
Read More »Daly Bread: Word from the ground, on panyard tours and public service succession
Tonight marks the start of the National Large Conventional Band preliminaries. I have described the magnificence of this evening in the Northern Region. (See for example Magnificent Monday, a column published some years ago and available in The Daly Commentaries.) In addition to the magnificence of the music, a pleasing …
Read More »Shem Alexander linked to Piarco arms seizure in April 2022; DOJ unseals indictment
Gateway Athletics founder and prominent Trinidad and Tobago youth football coordinator Shem Alexander faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted, after he was charged by the United States State Department with conspiracy to commit unlawful export smuggling and conspiracy to traffic firearms. The charges against the 35-year-old …
Read More »Dear Editor: We can’t arrest our way out of crime; T&T must pull at the roots
“[…] Arresting and imprisoning individuals removes them from society, preventing them from committing more crimes while incarcerated. But there are hundreds more to take their place, who are likely to never face arrest or imprisonment. “Research shows that while punitive measures can temporarily reduce crime, they often fail to address …
Read More »Judge: ‘Commissioner cannot be thin-skinned’; how Newsauce double-checked Griffith, with memorable critique
On 3 February 2021, as Trinidad and Tobago was gripped by a search for 23-year-old clerk Andrea Bharatt, blogger Rhoda Bharath—a UWI lecturer—sounded an alarm over the behaviour of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), then headed by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith, in the discharging of its duties. “Oh …
Read More »Noble: The Men Behind the Curtains—beware the manipulators among us
“[…] The police, they’re going after the young kids on the streets…the big fish don’t come to do deals directly. “The big fish are […] politicians and businessmen; them is the men, and they’re the ones who are bringing the drugs in, too. Dem is the men who behind the …
Read More »Demming: What criteria were used to measure Erla’s performance?
When Erla Harewood-Christopher assumed the role of acting commissioner of police in December 2022 following the vacation of her predecessor, McDonald Jacob, I was optimistic that things would change and our approach to crime would improve. Her official appointment in February 2023 as our country’s first female commissioner of police …
Read More »Daly Bread: Practiced detachment from the killings
Last week’s column was forced to return to what I assert is the government’s unwillingness to take any responsibility for the prevailing rampant killings, particularly for the easy passage of guns and drugs into our island for well over a decade. If not government agencies, who else is expected to …
Read More »Noble: Unending pain and suffering—save grieving communities from Hinds’ arrogance
“The area is dominated by gangs. Thus far, the police have had only limited success in eradicating the gangs. “It can be done, but it requires a multipronged approach, including all aspects of the state’s possible response; most of all, a genuine desire (my emphasis) on the part of the …
Read More »Noble: Is Griffith positioning himself as T&T’s J Edgar Hoover? Or Donald Trump?
“A lawless, indisciplined and corrupt nation cannot fight crime.” Pastor Clive Dottin, The People’s Roundtable, January 2024. At The People’s Roundtable, Pastor Dottin discussed the distinction between a street military revolt and a spiritual revival. He saw the nation as having a decision: either we allow the streets to be …
Read More »Noble: The problem with Dr Paul Richards’ grilling of Police Commissioner
“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” Milan Kundera, a Czech and French novelist, in The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979). The book discusses how people tolerate the torture and suffering over which they have no control. These lessons apply to us as …
Read More »Dear Editor: Senator Richards must prove allegations against Alexander, or apologise!
“[…] Dr Paul Richards is not only an independent senator, but also a very experienced journalist. He ought to know better. “He has an obligation to provide the evidence [against Senior Superintendent Roger Alexander from the TV6 Beyond the Tape programme], or publicly withdraw his statement and apologise…” The following …
Read More »