Caricom to host conference on rising crime

Jul 07, 2022 News

– heads agreed to improve info-sharing on gun crime intelligence

Kaieteur News – Amid spiraling crime rates across the Caribbean, Caricom heads have agreed to convene a meeting of the Conference to address crime and violence as a public health issue at the earliest opportunity.

At the conclusion of their summit in Suriname this week, the heads said in a communiqué that they welcomed a briefing on the security situation in the Community from the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS). According to the communiqué, they mandated the Council for Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE) to lead the preparations for the meeting along with the Council for Health and Social Development (COHSOD) and relevant public health personnel.

Heads of Government further agreed to improve sharing of gun crime intelligence with the regional gun crime unit and to strengthen the cooperation in sharing of intelligence among law enforcement personnel of Member States.

Only recently, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley said he wants to declare violence a public health emergency in Trinidad and Tobago owing to rash of murders. He was speaking at the Piarco International Airport before leaving for the 43rd regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Suriname, the Trinidad Guardian had reported.

“We seem not to be able to get away from the many aspects of violent crime, coming from a number of directions. Notwithstanding our best efforts, every single day there is a spate of violent crime, largely driven, but not only driven by firearms and defying logic,” Rowley said is quoted in the newspaper as saying.

He cited seven of the 13 killings–four murdered on the North Coast and three killed in a police-involved shooting in Port-of-Spain. Rowley said there were many people prepared to risk their lives by arming themselves and engaging the police. “It is very discomforting to know that our security people on so many occasions have to do the reasonable thing of responding to people who are armed, and what does the population expect?” he asked.

The Prime Minister said police officers cannot “walk away” from people with illegal firearms and after these confrontations, there is the “unnecessary loss of life.” He said the Government was prepared to declare violence a public health emergency. However, he could not give a timeline or details on how this would be achieved. “I just raised it as a matter that we have to focus on, it’s a specialist area, and it involves the entire national community seeing it that way. I don’t think we are ready for the timeline yet,” he said.

Rowley said it was a proposal the Government was contemplating before the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. He said at that time, it would have been implemented under the National Security Ministry as an outreach and training. “It is something that we need to go back to because this is more than just the evening news and somebody accidentally getting something done. It is just too prevalent and it is, unfortunately, desensitising the population.”

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