By now, more than one aspect of T&T’s issues has caught the eye of British criminologist Dr Simon Cottee, a writer for The Atlantic who’s in this country for research.
Cambridge scholar, Cottee, who’s attached to Kent University’s sociology division, also worked at Bangor University’s Social Science unit and UWI, St Augustine’s criminology division several years ago. Currently doing work on the sociology of religion, he’s recently completed an Economic and Social Research Council-funded study of ex-Muslims in Britain and Canada.
Cottee visited T&T earlier this year, investigating radicalism in T&T and possible alignment of nationals to the Islamic State (Isis), a subject in which he specialises with The Atlantic which analyses issues regionally.
After returning last week, Cottee said he’s sensed a new dynamic on the crime front,
“...Violence targeting criminal justice—attacks on prison guards, police and similar officials, such people being killed with ease and impunity.”
This is in addition to a moral coarsening in T&T which he’s detected, but acknowledges is a worldwide trend.
Cottee isn’t wrong. In the brief space of recent months the population has been on high alert as security forces deal with a spate of unusual incidents.
• The recent central Trinidad crime wave
• Port-of-Spain “jailbreak jitters” over months
• A grenade detonated in Barataria between warring Rasta City and Muslim gang members
• Golden Grove prison remand facility unrest where inmates include members of Central’s “Unruly Isis” gang
• Slaying of prisons officers, servicemen and a prisoner transport service officer
• Firebombings of DJ’s car in Woodbrook and policeman’s Central home
• Social media voice note threats over a week ago of an Isis bomb attack at local malls followed closely by bomb threats in North and South, and subsequently by a similar threat on schools
• A grenade which fell out of a bag held by a man in Carli Bay the previous week
• Keys to the Port-of-Spain prison remand area going missing, with a prisons officer now before the courts
And this week: Another bomb threat at the University of the West Indies. Plus discovery that day by a Point Fortin resident of a fake hand grenade near a Point school.
While the latter may confirm the population is heeding National Security’s call to “report it if you see it,” it also confirms uneasiness with the landscape.
And confidence hasn’t been helped by the foul-ups (by all parties involved) regarding recent issues with the Prime Minister’s security detail.
The military men who have headed and currently head T&T’s National Security Ministry aren’t unconcerned by the confluence of events, in the face of a murder rate already at 209.
A rate outstripping the days so far this year, says Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who failed to get Government to debate the matter in Parliament last Friday.
Corresponding measures have been enacted. Security forces on alert. A deepened intelligence-led thrust by police targeting known culprits and gangs. Prison systems “swept” and tightened. International meetings following recent “terror” threats, plus partners on point regarding upgraded intelligence and strategy sharing.
Neighbourly collaboration on coastal watch following an influx of Venezuelans. Upgraded Strategic Services Agency with an expanded intel-flow following proclamation of legislation upon the attorney general’s return.
Also recently announced, leadership for the Joint Border Security Unit—a PNM promise— headed by former ACP James Philbert. It includes former security unit heads Ramesh Lutchmedial (Civil Aviation), Herman Browne (Immigration), Fitzroy John (Customs), Kent Moore (Defence Force maritime).
Calls for public to be eyes,
ears of the authorities
National Security Minister Edmund Dillon at Tuesday’s Senate has, however, urged the public to be the “eyes and ears” of the authorities. The follow-up to the Prime Minister’s calls to communities to stop remaining silent on perpetrators among them.
“...Law enforcement agencies cannot do it alone,” Dillon urged.
Dillon said over the last five years, 2,000 firearms and 30,000 rounds of ammunition had been seized in T&T.
Police communications director Ellen Lewis provided further information on the number seized between January 1 and June 8, that there were 350 guns.
The information (see box) also indicates the majority of guns seized in the last term and up to the present are revolvers and pistols; seizures increased in 2014-2015 .
Information also shows a noteworthy increase in seizures of machine guns over 2014 to 2105 (18 and 23) with five already seized for this year.
Former National Operations
Centre head Garvin Heerah said such weapons aren’t part of the normal criminal arsenal, though the experience has been that some gangs can access them for special jobs/threats and they’re returned to source.
Dillon has also confirmed grenades aren’t part of the normal criminal arsenal. These arose on the scene in July 2015 when one was found outside the Port-of-Spain prison after the Port-of-Spain jailbreak by Allan “Scanny” Martin, Hassan Atwell and Christopher Selby.
Another grenade was detonated in March between warring Barataria gangs. One fell out of a bag carried by a man in Carli Bay two weeks ago. Despite no arrests in the latter instance, Dillon said it’s considered a “very serious matter.”
Dillon has acknowledged grenades normally come in batches and not singly. Coupled with recent bomb threats, the implications of such facts call for reinforced intelligence gathering, tracking the grenades and comparing all three to get an origin “...which will facilitate a sense of where to place our emphasis,” he added.
Focus on guns, however, largely involves coastal patrolling.
“Eighty per cent of murders are committed with guns. Arms and ammunition which aren’t made here enter T&T with narcotics, primarily in southern areas,” he noted.
South—Big gun seizures
Southern Division Sr Supt Irwin Hackshaw, whose division extends from Claxton Bay to Oropouche, outlined strategies his team has been incorporating on seizures. To date, Southern has seized 75 firearms, the highest haul among the nine divisions, he claims.
“We’re not letting up, we’re on the ground. We largely see handguns—9mm, 38 specials, .380 guns,” Hackshaw added.
Apart from hotspots—Claxton Bay, Marabella “Trainline”, San Fernando wharf—Moruga is also of concern for gun entry.
South Western’s Sr Supt Nazrool Hosein said his division was seeing fewer guns around than previously. He believes they may be entering at points apart from South. Divisonal hotspots include Penal, Siparia, Santa Flora, Oropouche and Pt Fortin. No organised gang activity exists. “Despite the fact something was in La Brea,” he says, there’s been general crime reduction.
Grenades emerging—Alfonso
The PP’s former national security minister Carl Alfonso, a former chief of defence staff, during his brief tenure between February and September (last year), got a taste of the situations to come (this year) which would challenge Dillon.
It fell to Alfonso to deal with the July 2015 jailbreak by inmates “Scanny,” Atwell and Selby, where a grenade was found on the pavement outside the Frederick Street prison after their escape. There has never been information to contradict security forces’ findings that it was part of their armoury.
The current scenario is cause for concern by law enforcement, Alfonso said about the grenade discoveries.
“I can’t recall this number (of grenades) coming to light, it’s as if someone is sending a strong message...designed to make people panic. But I’m confident the Defence Force and police combined can suppress any acts of internal aggression.”
Only the Defence Force has grenades and officers are trained to disarm them, he added. He wasn’t aware of police weaponry. TTDF grenades came in batches of 24 to 48. The manufacturing source and possibly age can be traced by the numbers.