BUSINESSMAN Derek Chin warned against any arms-race between security guards and robbers, commenting on recent calls for guards to be given high-powered firearms to match those used by some criminals. He instead wanted crime tackled at the root, offering several diverse strategies.
He spoke to Newsday on Wednesday as head of Telecom Security Services, whose employee, guard Hasley Augustine, 46, was killed last Thursday when five bandits with high-powered firearms attacked four guards depositing cash at a bank ATM in Cunupia.
Last September, bandits killed two security guards – Jeffrey Peters, 51, and Jerry Stuart, 49 – in the Pennywise robbery in La Romaine.
Previously, guard Bert Clarke, 59, was killed by robbers in 2013 in a highway robbery at Piarco; guard Mark Nurse, 40, was shot dead by robbers in 2019 in Tobago; and guard Kemraj Jaggessar, 56, was killed by a bandit in Valencia, in 2021 while guarding a cigarette van.
Chin pondered the potential of the death penalty and/or rehabilitation in curbing violent crime, while downplaying a call for better firearms after Augustine’s murder.
Newsday asked him about the Estate Police Association’s calls for guards to get high-powered firearms and their allocation to not be capped at 25 bullets.
Chin alluded that his company’s deceased officer had decided to not wear his bullet-proof vest, perhaps because of the heat, even as otherwise most guards and security companies do follow the right procedures.
“If there was a deviance in a security officer, that is what happens in any business where you have people who don’t always follow the rules, break the rules or look for short cuts.”
“The focus should be on the (illegal) weaponry and the banditry and the out-of-control situation.
“Do you want us to bring in tanks next? Will the tank be good enough? And then they (bandits) will bring a bazooka? Where do you stop?”
He said no one should blame security companies which he said were doing their best regarding staff discipline, weaponry and protection provided.
“There’s (only) so much we can do.
“If you come up against bazookas and the kind of AR15 high-powered rifles – automatic weapons – you have to understand that it is either we do the best we can, or everybody shut down and let the bandits take over.”
He lamented the high level of illegal weaponry entering TT for use by criminals.
“Do they want us to now invest in tanks?
“We are bringing in the best armoured cars (armoured vans) out of Texas. All our cars have the full armour, for obvious reasons. The majority of our vehicles are armoured vehicles. Nobody shot up the vehicles. They shot the men when they were outside the vehicle.”
He urged the authorities to “deal with the problem.”
“Bring back the death penalty and hang them. That’s the only thing that’s going to solve the problem.”
Chin reckoned the authorities lacked the testicular fortitude to do what had to be done.
“It’s only going to get worse and worse. As you see we had 11 murders last weekend. Eleven, after the guard was kill
