Newsday
THE EDITOR: The challenges going through this tiny nation appear insurmountable and countless, with no answer on the horizon. Many individuals I’ve spoken with have all however thrown within the proverbial towel, each younger and previous. For many who can afford it, migration has turn out to be their best choice at this stage of the sport.
Many, myself included, see us happening the highway of Haiti – managed by gangs. We’d all have seen the assertion by TTPost advising its staff to keep away from carrying particular numbers for the reason that gangs now have taken on “numbers” as their identification. That’s merely a part of the slippery slope. Sadly, we now have been on this slope for many years, unchecked and unmanned.
Years in the past one Martin Joseph, then minister of nationwide safety, instructed us he knew precisely what number of gangs there have been, who the leaders had been, the place they had been situated, and what number of members had been in every gang. Subsequently, his boss, Patrick Manning, went on to dub a number of of those males as “neighborhood leaders” and was seen assembly with them in a resort in Port of Spain.
Just lately, a report, additionally making its rounds on social media, positioned TT “sixth on this planet” of prison actions. Correct or not, these numbers “really feel proper,” given the each day narratives on the quite a few social platforms. Mix this with the truth that a big proportion of crimes go unreported – for as many causes.
Whereas murders are probably the most reported, as they normally have to be, no less than by law-abiding residents, even these numbers are deceptive. Whereas these murders would have been reported to the native stations, they don’t at all times make it to the nationwide highlight.
From the place I sit, I see a number of our bodies being escorted to forensics virtually each day, but we do not hear about them on the nightly information. Maybe reporting murders is now not newsworthy. Extra importantly, the numbers don’t add up. Or, as we are saying at present, “the maths juss eh mathsing.”
I particularly recall not so way back “the bacchanal” between the current regime and the opposition on in search of to get the anti-gang laws handed. It was hailed because the panacea to the crime challenge. We had been instructed that it will resolve the crime challenge as soon as and for all. It was, for all intents and functions, handed, but the numbers inform a distinct story.
This nation’s “criminologist extraordinaire” has gone silent after given the chance to go up the Police Service Fee, on a platter. And a few marvel why he got here up empty. That he nonetheless will get the very best marks as CoP, regardless of his colossal failure, is indicative of the cluelessness which permeates the ranks on the workplaces at Sackville and Edward Streets.
Sadly, he jogs my memory of the midnight robber at Carnival, who runs his mouth a mile a second, espousing a bag of nothingness. I’m all of the sudden reminded of a current political slogan that mentioned “efficiency beats ole discuss.”
Crime, like all the opposite social ills taking its toll on this tiny nation, can’t be understood in a vacuum. This evidently has eluded and continues to elude the speaking heads, garbed in both their velvet regalia, their silken robes, their Armani fits, or dhotis and saris.
There’s the elephant within the room which have to be addressed earlier than any answer is sought – race. Till then, as my buddy Phil would say, miss me.
RUDY CHATO PAUL, SR
D’Abadie