Kamla administration declares war on crime

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar chaired her first meeting Wednesday as head of the Trinidad and Tobago National Security Council (NSC) and told the media afterwards that her government will launch an full assault on criminals and crime.

Persad-Bissessar told reporters the security forces are committed to doing everything under the law to eradicate crime criminal elements so that people will feel secure again. She said that has always been a top priority for her and she intends to deal with as a matter of urgency.

"Our decisions and thinking and our vision...is to do whatever we can to ensure the life, limb and property of our citizens is safe," she said.

Persad-Bissessar said crime remains on the front-burner because it is important to protect people's lives and properties.

She also announced that she will consider building remand courts close to the prisons to try to improve efficiency in the court system. She noted that she tried to do that when she was in government.

The Prime Minister suggested that Remand Courts help "unclog" the country's Magistrates’ Courts.

"This approach will save a lot of magistrates’ time, as well as tremendous cost of transporting prisoners to and from the nation’s courts," she said.

She also noted that National Security Minister John Sandy plans to put more police officers would be put on the streets and in communities and has pledged to tackle the problem of gang violence.

She didn't give any specifics but promised an “all-out war on crime and gang violence.”

She also commented on the operations of the Special-Anti-Crime Unit of T&T (SAUTT).

"The reality of it is that we will look at the SAUTT. We will review it. There’s no question that we would have to do so, but we will need more details before we could make a final policy on decisions on the matter," she said.

When she was in opposition, Persad-Bissessar and her party complained about SAUTT, calling its operations as illegal and a waste of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar also told reporters that Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh is taking a close look at violence in schools to determine a strategy to end it.