Bailed criminals blamed for upsurge in murders

...gangs moving to other parts of country

Darryl Heeralal dheeralal@trinidadexpress.com
Tuesday, December 11th 2007

CRIMINALS on bail and several who have won court cases are mainly responsible for the recent upsurge in murders, a study of recent homicides has shown.

This, coupled with gangs and criminals moving out of their traditional turfs to other parts of the country, has led to an increased murder rate, DCP Crime Operations Gilbert Reyes has said.
For the first half of the year, there was an average of a 29 per cent comparative drop in murders in 2007 over 2006.

The murder rate shot up from July, Reyes said yesterday, and has now gone past last year's figure with 356 homicides recorded compared with 352 in 2006.

"Based on information, several murders are being committed by known repeat offenders, some of whom come out of prison with murder contracts," Reyes said.

"Crime displacement is also a big factor and has made it a little more difficult for law enforcement. Criminals are not staying in one place, they are on the move and crime is spreading with them."

Reyes gave the murder figures at the police's weekly press conference yesterday.
Based on an analyses of murders done by the Crime and Problem Analyses Unit (CAPA) in the second half of the year, Reyes said the upsurge in killings coincided with several known criminals securing bail and with several others winning their cases in court.

CAPA is attached to the Homicide Bureau and was set up by the Ministry of National Security and police to analyse crime figures and come up with initiatives to deal with trends.

More gang-related murders have also been committed this year, with 192 compared to 151 in 2006, a 27 per cent increase, with the majority of these killings occurring in the second half of the year.

The prison's service, Reyes said, works closely with the Criminal Records of the police, notifying them when known criminals are released on bail or after winning court matters.
Reyes said the police have put in place initiatives to deal with the upsurge in killings.

Commissioner Trevor Paul said tackling the situation needed a "multi-faceted approach, as crime is multi-faceted and not one dimensional".

Paul, who attended the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police intercessional meeting in Barbados last week, said it was agreed that crime was having a negative social and economic impact on the region.

The issues of deportees and juvenile involvement in crime was also discussed, he said.
Out of the meeting, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is expected to provide better training for forces within the region, while the FBI is to help in the setting of a regional database and in dealing with computer aided crime.

Paul said the Canadian government has also said it is willing to give the region $600 million to help fight crime.

It fockin cripples me to know that these fockin big senior fockin police officers and also that cont the Minister of National Insecurity always seem to know who committing all the fockin crimes in T&T.

Yet still they are unable to apprehend and put these fockin pests behind bars.

What ah waste of a service....the fockin Trinidad & Tobago Police Service!