(Trinidad Guardian) With the spate of homicides since the start of the year, Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs says from previous homicide statistics the number of murders for the year are still low. However, homicide statistics differ. Last year for the same period there were 29 murders reported and with only 20 days in 2012, the number of homicides stands at 30. Gibbs said: “Although there are homicides, the Police Service has seen a decrease in serious crimes and this has not been so in many years.” He was speaking to members of media as he left an hour-long evaluation meeting with the Police Service Commission (PSC). The meeting, which was in camera, took place at the commission’s office, Queen Street, Port-of-Spain. He said he could not speak about the discussions. However, as criminal activity is on the front-burner of all citizens, the commissioner assured citizens not to be fearful.
He explained most of the criminal activities were isolated to those involved and most of the homicides seemed to have that outcome. Gibbs said officers would continue in the same vein to alleviate crime as done He noted his officers were when the state of emergency was in effect. working to alleviate the crime situation and the Police Service was constantly revisiting its strategies to ensure it remained on top of the crime situation and adjusted its tactics to suit. Gibbs has been in office for 16 months. He said so far he was satisfied with the effort of his officers. As to the barrage of calls for him to step down from office he said he did not mind being evaluated on his performance. He said everyone was open to their own opinions and if they wanted him to resign they must prove on what it’s based.
