Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 01/Nov 08:45

Stuart queries Saddam on SoE crime stats

MINISTER of Land and Legal Affairs Saddam Hosein noted huge drops in crime this year compared to last, but in reply Port of Spain North/St Ann's East MP Stuart Young said the minister had failed to present "the most important statistic" to signal whether or not the state of emergency (SoE) has truly been effective. The House of Representative on October 31 debated a government motion to extend the state of emergency by a second period of six months. MPs ultimately passed the motion by 27 government votes "for" to the opposition's 12 votes "against". The SoE initially took effect on July 18-28, with the first extension until late October. Hosein said serious crime in TT had fallen by almost one-third this year compared to last year. Some offences fell by 40 per cent, he said. He noted a drop in murders from 626 last year to 285 this year. "That deserves commendation." Hosein said these figures included four particular months where the murder tally was fewer than 30 people, plus August when it was just 22. He said overall, serious crime cases had dropped from 11,787 incidents last year to 8,398 this year. This decrease was 29 per cent, Hosein said. The number of shootings and woundings had fallen by 40 per cent, from 745 last year to 450 this year. Robberies had dropped by 40 per cent from 2,329 last year to 1,421 this year, Hosein said. Break-ins fell from 1,613 last year to 979 this year, a 39 per cent fall. Just these statistics in themselves were a sufficient reason to extend the SoE, Hosein asserted. Teasingly, he asked if Port of South MP Keith Scotland was upset at these figures and asked if Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles would attend the House to express her personal viewpoint. Hosein complained that for far too long, criminals have had more rights than ordinary people. He boasted that within its first 100 days in office the government had appointed a permanent commissioner of police (Allister Guevarro), with political interference. "We will ensure we make TT a safe place for all." Hosein accused the PNM of hypocrisy, saying that as the former government when they had brought their own SoE they had not presented any crime figures as evidence to help make their case, but that the UNC government was now presenting crime figures in support of its SoE. Young addressed the crime statistics. He explained that out of ten months this year, six months had been under an SoE. "By definition, a state of emergency will reduce crime." However Young alleged that Hosein had not presented "the most important statistic." He said that despite 3,209 arrests during this current SoE, the House had not been told how many charges had actually been laid against suspects. Saying Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander had issued 142 detention orders during the SoE, Young said it was easy to arrest and detain individuals, but what was not being told was how many charges were laid. While saying the opposition was happy whenever illegal guns were taken off the street, Young argued that one does not call an SoE for that purpose, because the SoE suspends everybody's constitutional rights. He said the framers of the TT Constitution had viewed an SoE as a measure of last resort. Saying that even persons accused of murder may apply for bail, he said this fact proved how important one's right to free movement was considered to be, noting this right was curbed by an SoE. Young said under an SoE in TT, a suspect had not right to bail nor to habeas corpus where his attorney could ask that he be presented to court to check up on his condition of wellness. In light of a memo calling up Defence Force members earlier that day, he noted that in any SoE, soldiers would have all the powers of police officers, even as an SoE denies suspects their usual legal rights such as bail and habeas corpus. Young said the calling of an SoE requires pre-requisite conditionalities, respectively either war, natural disaster or actions by someone on a scale to endanger public safety. "Where is the urgency?" he demanded to know, of the need to extend the SoE. He said in July the opposition had taken the government's word and police commissioner's word of a need for the SoE, (that is a gang coalition plotting against top public officials.) "All we heard today was a repetition. Where is the immediate threat? "To come and say it is a continuation of operations...Really?" Young said what was scary was the fact that the Minister of Homeland Security (Roger Alexander) was the one person responsible for issuing detention orders under an SoE where all of a suspect's rights were suspended. He noted the plight of one SOE detainee who repeatedly was unable to get a hearing before the SoE tribunal. Young mulled a scenario where citizens wishes to publicly vent against the government in Woodford Square but had to be careful of committing an offence under the regulations of the SoE. Citing an analyst Sandra Pellegrini of the group Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), Young warned of citizens becoming desensitised over time to the effects of an SoE. The post Stuart queries Saddam on SoE crime stats appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.