“You do realise, don’t you, that this is our sixth state of emergency in one generation?” was the question a serious woman from Tobago asked me in an irritated voice. They do not appreciate SoEs in Tobago, I gather.

I responded with the kind of denial such unwelcome statistics often conjure up, like electricity bills or the increase in gas prices.

"Yes,” she went on relentlessly. "There was 1970, the attempted military coup with Shah and Lassalle and Bazie and them.”

I had almost forgotten that one. Sometimes people like Ferdie Ferreira, who is a walking history book, mention it. That went on from April to November.

Then there was one in 1971, from October in that year till January the following year, after labour unrest (but we still were able to celebrate Christmas).

Then the conflict moved venue, to debates in Parliament, until 1990, when Abu Bakr and his men, trying to take over the government of the people of TT, caused confusion and considerable damage. That SoE lasted five months, from July 27 till December 9, 1990.

Then in 1995 there was a wee little SoE, one that only stretched around Occah Seepaul’s house in St Clair. I forget what that was about, but it just goes to show you, doesn’t it?

Then there was the serious one related to drugs and crime, from August-December in 2011, a scarce ten years ago. I cannot remember the resultant lowering of the crime statistics as a result, but I know that kidnappings for ransom almost disappeared. That anti-kidnapping squad really knows its business!

Now we have this new covid19 one, which started on May 16 and goes on until...

“Surely not!” I expostulated to myself (I love that word, expostulated). “Not indefinitely!”

Actually this period of public emergency could be as long as six months if the Parliament so decides. Or it can be as long as covid19, if the Minister of Health so decides, if that is a shorter period.

In case you missed it, what an SoE means is that it can give the police authorities legal powers to arrest and search citizens without a warrant. This one imposes a curfew on the entire country restricting residents to their homes between 9 pm and 5 am.

Other powers usually given to the police during an SoE affect citizens’ rights to freedom of movement, habeas corpus, assembly, association, speech and privacy.

You can understand why, back when the 1990 coup was taking place, these powers were necessary. National security.

[caption id="attachment_890707" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Police officers on patrol in Woodbrook recently. - Jeff K. Mayers[/caption]

Is there something more in the mortar than the pestle now? Fear is a strong motivator.

I am not trying to minimise what is happening now. The disastrous effects of SoEs on businesses during lockdowns are crushing. Many families have still not recovered from 1990.

But fighting a virus spread wasn’t contemplated when those rules were drawn up.

As I write this, someone