THE EDITOR: Can the crime problem in Trinidad be solved without proper accountability on the part of all police officers and their performance?

The prevalence of violent crime all over the country suggests that the criminals in general believe they can commit crimes in public spaces without being caught.

Why is this so?

The answers to the following questions may shed some light to the issue:

1. When a particular crime is reported, how long does it take the police to respond and from which unit/station?

2. When last and how often did police patrol that area?

3. What is the data on the frequency of patrols in the area on a daily and weekly basis?

4. Are patrols and the movement of police vehicles regularly monitored via GPS?

5. What is the total number of police vehicles in operation and how many are fitted with functioning GPS?

6. When a serious crime has been committed, is an analysis done using GPS tracking to determine where were the patrols and other police vehicles at the time of the crime and how they responded?

7. Are supervisors called to account for the movement of vehicles and personnel under their charge?

One can reasonably conclude that these criminals believe – and probably rightly so – that they can journey to their targets, execute their mission and return to their destination without the risk or likelihood of being confronted by the police.

I was quite pleased to read recently of two separate occasions when task force officers, while on patrol, intercepted vehicles with occupants who had in their possession firearms and ammunition which were likely intended to be used to commit some violent crime.

But this type of commendable work often falls victim to lack of consistency and generality, as it is usually limited to task force or IATF officers and during spontaneous or knee jerk types of exercises conducted in response to particular crime waves.

The criminal elements, once cognisant of this trend, would simply lay low until the period of intensified police activities return to the normal laid-back approach to then resume their deviant behaviour.

Any attempt at improving police presence and response to crime through exercises and other short-term measures without a wholesale improvement in the attitude of all police officers towards public safety and security will likely produce the usual temporal results of a cosmetic nature and give the population a false sense of security after a few days or weeks of reduced reports of violent crimes.

It is time to open our eyes and realise that this worn-out model of policing, though maybe useful in certain instances and that bear results in the short-term, has done very little for the long-term security and comfort of the population and society at large.

It is time to properly monitor all police vehicles and by extension police officers to better account for the resources assigned to the police service and to ensure taxpayers get their money’s worth from the majority of officers.

C MARSHALL

retired police officer

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