No racial profiling; 72% of murder victims since 2006 were Afro-Trinis: Sandy

National Security Minister John Sandy told Parliament Friday Afro-Trinidadians commit most of the crime in Trinidad and Tobago and much of it is directed against other Afro-Trinidadians.

He also noted that this group comprises the majority of the prison population in the country.

Sandy was speaking at the time in the debate to extend the State of Emergency, specifically on the President's reasons for agreeing to declare the emergency.

Sandy said of 72 per cent of the 2,307 people murdered since 2006 were of African decent. That's a total of 1,668.

He made the point to defend the government against opposition charges of racial profiling the crackdown on crime,.

Sandy broke down the statistics by year:

• 2006 - 390 murdered, 228 Afro-Trinidadians
• 2007 - 391 murdered, 308 Afro-Trinidadians
• 2008 - 547 murdered, 427 Afro-Trinidadians
• 2009 - 506 murdered, 383 Afro-Trinidadians
• 2010 - 473 murdered, 320 Afro-Trinidadians

"We must recognise that it is people looking like me who are being murdered, mothers like my mother, God rest her soul, who are out there weeping more than any other race," Sandy told the House of Representatives.

"When we see the accused being led away, being led to court, in most instances, it is people who look like me with their heads bent, hiding from the cameras. We must stop that.

"This is why I am appealing to my brothers and sisters to stop that," Sandy said.

Sandy said in 2006 there were 2,678 people in prison of which 57 per cent or 1,532 were Afro-Trinidadians. He said it has continued that way.

• 2007 - 2,726 prisoners, 1,464 Afro-Trinidadians 
• 2008 - 3,012 prisoners, 1,610 Afro-Trinidadians 
• 2009 - 1,886 prisoners, 1,776 Afro-Trinidadians
• 2010 - 2,412 prisoners, 1,300 Afro-Trinidadians
• 2011 - 1,734 prisoners, 890 Afro-Trinidadians

Sandy said too many young people are dying, leaving children without fathers. He noted that in San Juan one murdered gang leader left 15 children behind.

The minister strongly defended the emergency. "I remain confident that the decision was the correct one," he said.

He added that if the government had not acted to prevent what was about to happen "1990 would have been a Christmas party compared to what would have happened....loss of life, the brutality and mayhem would have made 1990 a garden party."

Sandy said he remains confident that "this Government took the right decision in declaring a State of Emergency as I am convinced that we prevented a crisis of unprecedented proportions."

He added, "Two weeks later, the criminals are hiding from law enforcement officers," noting that people can now sleep again at nights with fear. In addition, he said there is a resurgence of family life among the population.

"That, Mr Speaker, is our objective, to take back our cities, streets, communities and our beloved nation from the criminals. Hard talk is not our strategy, hard action is," he said.