T&T businessmen concerned about crime

(Trinidad Express) President of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) Gregory Aboud said yesterday while the National Security Minister seems to have the right intentions, he must admit that the crime situation is getting out of control.
Aboud was commenting on Griffith’s move to heighten the security alert in light of the recent spate of murders. “We do not believe that heightening the security alert is going to last for very long and while we do insist on being supportive of whoever is our Minister of National Security, we cannot be a apart of giving false hope to those who are so worried about their safety and the safety of the country,” he told the Express.
He said the implementation of crime measures is weak because the structure and the model of management of the key services is outdated and ineffective. “As a result all eyes are on the Minister but no eyes are on those who are supposed to be doing the job of making the arrests of those who are committing these murders.
“We do understand the limitations under which the Minister operates and indeed all of the Ministers in the Cabinet of this and previous governments have faced the same problems which is how to translate their ideas and their policies into policies that could be implemented,” Aboud said. He added that in order for Griffith to maintain his credibility he must admit that the serious problem being faced now is that none of the murders are leading to arrests.
“What we have is a situation in which only perhaps five or six per cent of those who commit these murders are being brought to justice and therefore those who are thinking about committing murders know that there is a 94 per cent chance that they will never be caught, this in itself is a very active stimulant to those who want to be lawless,” he said. Meanwhile, president of the San Fernando Business Association Daphne Bartlett said the while the association supports the move by the Minister to heighten security, more should be done to deal with crime. She said most of the killings, as noted by Griffith, are gang-related and she believes this is tied to the drug trade.
“From my own research in Trinidad and Tobago, we don’t use a lot of cocaine, but marijuana. There has been talk about decriminalising marijuana and a lot of countries have already done so. When it becomes decriminalised and it can be sold freely, I think we would not have people fighting for turf again because of drugs and there will be less killings related to the drug trade,” Bartlett said. President of the Chaguanas Chamber of Commerce Richie Sookhai, while complimenting the Government for the initiatives it implemented, agreed more should be done to address the crime situation. “With the current economic environment which is as a result of the falling price of oil, we need to attract investors in the non-energy sector. Even though the crimes being committed reflect mostly to gang-related crimes these numbers all add up in the greater scheme of things. “So when investors are looking and they see that the numbers are pretty high it is actually reflecting badly on our part and may detract investors from coming to the country,” Sookhai said.