GENERAL SECRETARY of the National Transformation Alliance (NTA) Tim Teemal has said it was not covid19 that was responsible for a reduction in murders in 2020 and 2021, but proper leadership by Gary Griffith as police commissioner.

Griffith is the political leader of the NTA.

In a media release on Tuesday, Teemal said the narrative that the pandemic was responsible for a reduction in murders is false, as other countries had increases in murders while TT had reductions.

For the first three months of 2020, with no public health restrictions, state of emergency and curfew, Trinidad and Tobago had the safest Carnival, and crime and murder began to decline he said. He added that in October and November 2021, with public health restrictions, a state of emergency and a curfew, the country experienced its most and third most murderous months, with 127 murders collectively.

“Despite all these facts and data, many people continue to push the narrative that covid19 was the magic bullet for crime, rather than the systems, policies and operational plans executed by the police.”

Teemal then took aim at the media for not only publishing what he called the inaccuracies but seeking out the opinions of criminologists who he said have not supported their assertion with data that the pandemic was the root cause of a reduction in murders.

“It was the fear and respect for the police that pegged them back, not magical covid19. This non-factual narrative is also the one being pushed by the hierarchy of the police, perhaps because they are beholden to the politicians, and because it is an attempt by them to shirk responsibility for the runaway crime that sees us headed to over 600 murders in a year, for the first time in our history.”

He called on those who credit the pandemic for the reduced murder toll to admit to Griffith’s leadership abilities, as not to do so will have “real-world implications of citizens losing their lives.”

Teemal addressed both politicians and the police hierarchy, telling them to give Griffith credit and to restore the policies he had in place. Specifically, he called on the government to let “good sense prevail” as the “Get Gary” narrative was not accepted. He added that in an unnamed poll, nine out every ten people questioned felt safer and more secure when Griffith was head of the police service.

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