The resurgence of brazen gangland killings on the streets of the capital city has jolted the T&T Police Service’s top brass to come up with new strategies to suppress instances of reprisal shootings and murders.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenn Hackett, who is in charge of crime and operations, said yesterday he held emergency talks with key commanders at the Police Administration Building, in Port-of-Spain, but he refused to divulge new anti-crime strategies saying they were too sensitive in nature.
Hackett said one of the measures, which he could disclose, was increased police patrols in known crime zones.
“The nine (police) divisions have been mandated to formulate their Christmas plan and certainly we will see that in Port-of-Spain and we are looking at the utilisation of a joint effort between the Police Service and the Defence Force but most certainly we will see in the capital increased patrols and they will be intensified in the months of November and December, especially taking into consideration that people come to Port-of-Spain and San Fernando to shop. Our plan is to engage the criminals,†Hackett said in a telephone interview.
Two overnight murders, one on a crowded street in downtown Port-of-Spain on Thursday night and another hours later in the city, have pushed the murder toll to 359.
Citizens have expressed fear of being struck by stray bullets and gang members target each other seemingly without fear of the police.
The murders came one day after the head and headless body of a Las Lomas man, Nathan David Maraj, a former insurance agent, were found in the city. His body had been stuffed in the trunk of his car and left idle in East Port-of-Spain for at least two days, although police had been alerted about a strange car parked outside a hardware.
The man’s head was found by garbage workers at Pall Mall Street while his body was found at Duncan Street. He was last seen alive last Saturday and police believe that his gruesome killing was done by members of the Mexican drug cartel to send a message to the drug underworld.
Regarding the motive for the recent murders, Hackett said from the evidence the police have gathered the killings appeared to be gang related.
“These murders are in some way gang related. In respect to the headless body we are still trying to ascertain the motive and still exploring the circumstances but some of the other murders are certainly gang related.
“I have the Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit working assiduously to provide me with some level of information and the circumstances which led to this gruesome murder.
“We have analysed the data before us and we are looking at the dynamics of these murders that are referred to as reprisal murders,†he said.
Asked what were their plans for allaying the fears of the public with regard to the upsurge of crime in the Port-of-Spain area, Hackett said the police shared these concerns with citizens and gave the assurance that there would be an increase in patrols conducted by the police and Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) members, especially in trouble areas.
Regarding growing concerns over the low detection rate, he said, all divisional commanders have been mandated to increase the detection rate of serious crime by seven per cent this year.
“At the end of 2014 it was 23 per cent and we are trying to increase it to 39 per cent. We are well on the way to making some level of increase with respect to detection of serious crime. While we may not meet the 30 per cent, certainly it will be over 23 per cent or close to 30 per cent,†he said.
Referring specifically to the low detection rate of homicides, he said within recent times the police service has “infused the homicide bureau with new officers who are being trained in respect to detection methodology and we have exposed officers to these kind of training.