- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 31/Jan 03:59

An SoE of half-measures

Paolo Kernahan ON THE surface, the police have had some notable successes in their push to crush a long-running criminal insurrection – but they’ve come too late. Every day delivers compelling evidence of the defiance of a criminal underclass that’s become so powerful half-measures and political posturing cannot contain it. Recently, a senior officer defended the nuclear option, arguing that it’s working. Comparing the first two weeks of 2025 with the same period last year, he trumpeted a 44 per cent reduction in murders. That might carry some weight if we weren’t in an alleged state of emergency (SoE). As I sat to write this column, we were at 25 murders in 27 days. This must also be digested along with robberies, car thefts, carjackings, and other varieties of violent crime. The police, who are under tremendous political pressure to deliver results in an election year, are using the same flawed method of tracking their performance that they’ve always leaned on. In 2024, CoP Erla Harewood-Christopher’s favourite pastime was preaching the "this time last year" psalms. Maybe her faith wobbled when the figures jumped the script and surged ahead of her narrative, ending the year on a record high. Who could have guessed that murders aren’t linear? For all the upbeat assessments by the police on what’s been achieved so far, from the public’s standpoint it’s a resounding failure. Under an SoE there should be close to no murders and certainly a marked disruption of routine criminal predation in our homes and businesses. That hasn’t happened. Of course with this, shall we say, vegan version of an SoE, there was no way that utopian outcome would ever have emerged. The determination of criminal gangs and other aspirants to the lifestyle revisits a point repeated in previous columns: it’s a truth most law-abiding citizens would rather not face. When the police intervened in a robbery at a grocery in Longdenville, three gunmen were taken off the board. It was fascinating to read the comment thread on news posts about the slain bandits. “Fly high king!” was one heartfelt farewell; that was no anomaly. Wistful comments on the lives of the slain robbers bordered on the elegiac. Naturally, there were contrasting comments from people who simply couldn’t understand how anyone could celebrate a life of crime. Normal citizens going about their daily routines don’t get the social conditions that give rise to violent crime, nor do they want to. “I have what I own by virtue of my hard work and sacrifice.” However, there are entire subsets of society who believe the upper stratum of the population succeeds at the expense of those who have nothing but struggle and the ability to multiply, thus perpetuating that "struggle." It’s tempting for the law-abiding to ask, “How is that my problem?” Well, the answer is jumping your wall with death in hand. Trinis make a lot of noise about a meritocracy, but we all know that who you know, to a large extent, determines how far you go. Hence armed criminals become folk heroes for scoring victories in a system weighted against the little man. Compounding this cancer of perception is the political manipulation of marginalised communities and the enduring practice of pouring taxpayers' dollars directly into the hands of criminals through vote-buying programmes masquerading as community development initiatives. The police can’t seriously expect to curb violent criminality that’s been decades in the making with a half-a--ed SoE. The nation is at war with a state within a state; a breakaway republic governed by criminals intent on claiming their share of resources. While it’s encouraging to read about the seizure of firearms, ammunition and narcotics, we all know this is a mere fraction of what’s in circulation among the gangs. This administration squandered a lot of energy focusing on legal firearms even as illegal guns were marching in through legal and illegal ports. Much of that attention was invested in the “Get Gary” campaign, who was eventually got; though one wonders now, at what cost. For all the exercises the police have claimed as victories, there’s no evidence that such raids and other actions couldn’t have been conducted without emergency powers. This raises a damning question: why did the police wait until now to do what should have been done all along? At this stage of the disease, an SoE without a curfew is like administering Panadol for cancer. Of course, a curfew won’t happen now. Maybe later. But first, Kees, Machel and roll up yuh bampalam. The post An SoE of half-measures appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.