While in a heightened state of mourning for lost and abused children and murdered women, we had another week of ole talk in a continuing demonstration of the inability of Government and the poorly managed Police Service to take meaningful action against violent crime. Even as Minister of National Security …
Read More »Daly Bread: Our enduring epidemic of denial as violent crime ravages T&T
I am frequently drawn by the direct and uninhibited language of fellow Trinidad Express columnist Joanne Paul. In her commentary last Monday, Dr Paul treated with our massive diabetes problem. Interestingly, from my perspective, she came to the conclusion that it was time to acknowledge the truth. ‘Things are …
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: Erosion of bail rights for gun possession could be first step on slippery slope
“People never seem to think that a breach of the rights of even one individual, means that that breach can apply to all. It is why the judiciary so staunchly defends the rights of even the most depraved of society…” The following Letter to the Editor on proposed amendments to …
Read More »Daly Bread: Are the malls becoming crime hot spots? T&T’s state of anxiety is growing
Two ladies in the early afternoon—to which we refer colloquially as after lunch—park a vehicle in an area, not isolated from one of its entrances, and enter a shopping mall. An hour later, as they are exiting the mall, they see a man standing adjacent to their vehicle. They have …
Read More »Daly Bread: From Bolsonaro to Griffith, are we tackling crime from the wrong end?
Approximately one year ago, shortly after his appointment, Commissioner of Police, Gary Griffith likened the criminal elements to ‘cockroaches’ and added that those cockroaches should be ‘crushed’. The Commissioner has company. The following report appeared last week in the UK Guardian newspaper: “Brazil’s far-right President, Jair Bolsonaro, has said he …
Read More »Fixin’ T&T slams ‘dangerous, hypocritical, irresponsible’ response to murders by business community
“What exactly is the T&T Chamber of Commerce advocating? Does the T&T Chamber of Commerce condone breaking the law to enforce the law? “Will the T&T Chamber of Commerce support extrajudicial killings as a tool that should be used to address our untenable crime situation?” The following retort to the …
Read More »Daly Bread: Murder 24/7; cold comfort as Govt finally acknowledges dire situation
We are all acquainted with the expression 24/7 meaning continuous shifts or round-the-clock service. Sadly, our country is now a country of murder 24/7. Underlining that fact, we actually managed to have 24 murders within a seven day period, causing Guardian media to assert in a page one editorial on …
Read More »Brutal breaching—Pt 2: X marks the 1990 spot but the enduring political question is why
Yasin Abu Bakr loves the soap-box. The witness box or the dock? Not quite so much. So at the post-27-July-1990-coup trial, there was no grand “History will absolve me” peroration. None was needed. Not in Clebert Brooks’ court. With no legal training, you would say that an amnesty signed because …
Read More »Dear Editor: Victims of our own conceit; man must live, so only justice can counter crime
“Corrupt politicians and unscrupulous business owners are responsible for the runaway crime rate in our country. “[…] Crime existed ages before there were government contracts and crime is the hallmark of an unregulated society, one that is full of oppression. History would show that all such societies implode over time.” …
Read More »Demming: Until PNM and UNC unite on crime, we are all sitting ducks
The societal breakdown around us is palpable. Everywhere you turn there is chaos, indiscipline and manifestations of a society about to implode. Once you leave your home, your senses are assaulted by aggressive driving, loud music, lack of courtesy and piles of garbage. These assaults are carried out by people …
Read More »Noble: The deafening sound of silence; Colleen’s cry exposes the hypocrisy all around us
In the mid-60s, Paul Simon wrote: “And in the naked light I saw/ten thousand people maybe more/ people talking without speaking/people hearing without listening/ people writing songs that voices never share/and no one dared disturb the sound of silence..” These lines are about us, our crime situation and the impertinent …
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