“[…] On the fateful day, the Guard and Emergency Branch not only moved the bodies but also picked up spent shells, wrecked the vehicle and left the scene bare—as if nothing happened there 15 minutes ago. It left the crime scene investigators with almost nothing to work with when they …
Read More »Police lives matter! Griffith rejects PCA recommendation on Morvant killings
Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith has refused to implement the recommendation from Police Complaints Authority (PCA) director David West on the police killings of Joel Jacobs, Mr Israel Moses Clinton and Mr Noel Diamond in Morvant on 27 June. Yesterday, West ‘formally advised the commissioner of police that officers involved …
Read More »Hotep: The ‘powers that be’ need you to blame Morvant—to hide their own crimes against the people
“[…] How many business people can write an honest account explaining their rags to riches story, or share a history that can serve as a roadmap for others? “If any of them opt for the challenge they would have to omit the bribes and protection money they pay, the tax …
Read More »Suspend them! PCA advises Commissioner to suspend officers in Morvant killings
The following is a press statement from the communications department of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA): The Director of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) David West has formally advised the Commissioner of police that officers involved in the 27 June fatal shooting of Mr Joel Jacobs, Mr Israel Moses Clinton …
Read More »Noble: Catch a fire; TTPS should be careful of spark being lit
“A single spark can start a prairie fire,” Mao Zedong, 1930. This observation came back to my mind in the witnessing of the events of the last seven days. Mao had meant then that the revolution would start small but was possible in China—not too different from all the recent …
Read More »Daly Bread: Does minister really think Trinis would face armed police for a few dollars?
The government has called the election for 10 August, plainly in order to have it before the unrest which gripped us last week gets worse and erases the goodwill earned through the management of the Covid-19 pandemic. On Tuesday last, there was widespread unrest in or near several disadvantaged communities. …
Read More »NJAC: Suspend all policemen involved in Morvant killing—as matter of principle
“[…] NJAC believes that contrary to what has been recently expressed by the commissioner of police, the suspension of the officers should not be determined by the number of officers involved—but rather based on principle and process. Such action would ensure that the investigative process is transparent and would engender …
Read More »Vidale: Brace for more; repressed, unanswered societal problems do not go away
I wrote the following words in 2015: The diminution of a murder to ‘gang related’ has promoted a (group think) consciousness that some deaths are acceptable. Moreso, we embraced extra judicial killings as a justifiable response to a situation which is out of control. “Kill everybody an done!” However, there …
Read More »Noble: The Nobodies; ‘invisible to all, scorned by all’—Morvant vs the world
Last Saturday, three men were shot dead in their neighbourhood at about 2.30pm. Six hours after, the newspapers went to press not knowing the identity of two of the men while the other one was more likely to be named as ‘Warlord’. They were nobodies. On social media, some rejoiced …
Read More »MSJ: Was ‘cockroach’ jibe a ‘license’ to kill? Arrest and suspend ALL lawmen involved in M’vt slaying
“[…] It seems as though members of the police force have taken the commissioner’s use of force policy and his incendiary remarks about ‘cockroaches’ as a license to kill. This is not the first time that this has happened under the watch of Gary Griffith, as we had a similar …
Read More »Jacobs, Clinton, Diamond, the TTPS, Chee Mooke and the REAL Morvant victims
Morvant residents faced a swift reprisal for alleged misdeeds yesterday. But on this occasion, the judge, jury and executioner was not the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). It was Chee Mooke Bakery Limited, which revealed that it will no longer serve that community after its driver was robbed—in the midst …
Read More »Protesting Dissonance: “While race is certainly a factor, class is the true divider here…”
The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) has investigated 150 fatal police shooting incidents resulting in 258 deaths from 2011 to March 2019. According to their statistics, the average annual number of police killings between 2013 and 2019 works out to about 34 deaths per year. Across the same time period in …
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