Murders up in T&T; minister vows to go after gangs

National Security Minister Martin Joseph is again telling citizens he would work to bring down what he called the unacceptable number of homicides in Trinidad and Tobago. But as he made the pledge he had to admit that the number of killings so far this year exceeds the number for the same time last year.

There were 550 homicides last year, an all time record. The figure was higher than most metropolitan cities with larger populations than the entire Trinidad and Tobago population. Toronto, for example, with 2.5 million people, recorded 70 murders for 2008.

So far we have had as of January 21, 2009, 35 homicides as compared to 32 in 2008 and 15 in 2007," Joseph said.

He noted that the killings were concentrated in four police divisions, showing an increase of between 200 per cent and 40 per cent. The highest figure was in the Southern and Central Divisions, which rose by 200 per cent.

"What I can assure you is no way are we going to find ourselves in 2009 in the situation we found ourselves in 2008...We had a situation in 2008 that was total unacceptable in terms of homicide," he said. He promised again that the focus would be on gangs.

And he appeared to shift blame from himself and his ministry to the police, saying that under the Police Reform Acts, the Commissioner of Police has complete autonomy for dealing with crime. He said his ministry is no longer responsible for reporting on operational aspects.