THE EDITOR: It is ironical that UNC Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial should want to deny acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob the same right to speak which she so ably defended in a matter with government minister Foster Cummings some weeks ago.
During a UNC media conference last Wednesday, she criticised Jacob for suggesting ways parliamentarians could make anti-gang and bail laws more effective. His suggestions seem to annoy her to the point of advising him to “leave legislation to those in Parliament and focus on fighting crime and doing police work.” I thought this was absurd advice. It is precisely because of weak legislation that Jacob and his men are being hampered in nailing criminal offenders.
Jacob has every right to comment or make suggestions for the improvement of legislation in the fight against crime. He made seven suggestions to strengthen the anti-gang legislation because only those in the kitchen feel the heat. He and his team are in a good position to know what should work if parliamentarians would just listen and act. But it seems that his suggestions do not fit the UNC agenda.
Lutchmedial should read the contribution of Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonsalves to Friday’s debate in Parliament to better understand the role of the police chief. Gonsalves’s remarks should propel the public in demanding that the Opposition fulfils its obligations to the electorate. This is no time to exploit crime as a political catapult to power.
Laws aimed at reducing gangs, gun violence, atrocious murders, attacks against women and children, brazen-faced home invasions and robberies must be sufficiently harsh to discourage offenders. Those who talk glibly about Singapore seem to ignore the fact that there is extremely harsh punishment for criminal activities.
One Singaporean diplomat told me in 2012 that the respect for law and order was so effective in that country that even the pilfering of paperclips and toilet paper from government offices had ceased. Public safety and respect for the law transcended human rights because no one can enjoy human rights in chaos and instability.
What we have here in Trinidad and Tobago is a tiny minority of miscreants holding the vast majority as hostages to criminal intent because the UNC Opposition is concerned about their human and constitutional rights. While ignoring the human and constitutional rights of the majority of law-abiding citizens. Hell man, it is time to get off that superficial stupidity thinking that pampering hardcore criminals would change their ways.
Here in TT we have bent backwards to protect the rights of criminals. Any Tom, Dick and Harry can lodge a complaint against the police even in the exercise of their duties to protect and serve. What about me, a law-abiding citizen? Who protects my right to live in peace and safety?
Senator, watered-down laws mean that the police are put to work with one hand tied behind their backs. It just can’t work.
HARRY PARTAP
former UNC MP
The post Jacob has every right to make suggestions ap
