Ramlogan used police statistics to make his point as he piloted Anti-Gang Bill in Parliament. He said gang leaders are "very aggressive" in the recruitment process and offer new members very good incentives.
"The indoctrination process to join a gang is such that you have to prove yourself worthy of membership in the gang by committing petty crimes—robbery, selling drugs, robbing a maxi-taxi.
"But to gain entry into the bigger and better gangs, you have to actually prove that you could murder a man or woman in cold blood," he said.
"That is why this legislation has teeth that would bite, eat into the flesh, until it reaches the very bone," he said.
Ramlogan said the bill is part of a package of legislative measures designed to deal the "rude boys, bad boys and bling culture".
He addded, "These gang leaders are using their ill-gotten gains to purchase fancy cars, fancy cell phones, and they fool the young girls who are actually being roped in...the bling culture is blinding them to the respect for the value of human life".
The proposed law will allow a court to forfeit any personal property of a gang member if there is evidence to show that at the time when a crime was committed the person owned or used such property for the benefit of a gang.
The Bill would jail ordinary gang members for 20 years and gang-leaders would face “imprisonment for the remaining natural years of their life”, Ramlogan said. He added that gangsters who are also members of the protective services by 25 years in jail.
“If you cut off the head, the gang will bleed to death,” he declared. The AG noted that some gangs get intelligence information and firearms training from members of the protective services.
Ramlogan said the crime wave which the People's Partnership Government inherited is threatening "to engulf and consume the entire society", adding that "urgent surgical action" by virtue of legislative action, is needed.
He called gang-related activity a scourge that must be eradicated. "Gangs are into drugs, gun-running, kidnapping, extortion, robbery, assault, rapes and all forms of criminal activities. The gang has become a centrepiece and a foundation for crime," he said. "Desperate times require strong measures," he added.
Ramlogan reminded the House of Representatives that on June 7, 2005 former national security minister Martin Joseph pledged to "hunt down" the gang members.
Joseph stated at the time that 66 gangs with about 500 members were operating in the country. If the AG's estimates are correct that figure has more than doubled in five years.
The AG also recalled that former prime minister Patrick Manning hosting gang leaders for breakfast at Crowne Plaza hotel in Port of Spain. Ramlogan called that one of the most demoralising things in the history of this country and stated that the People's National Movement (PNM) nurtured the gang problem.
"They harboured the gang leaders...they allowed them to flourish, giving them URP contracts and wining and dining with them". He said that encouraged an increase in murders and blamed the PNM for the recent spike in crime.
Ramlogan said following the temporary shutdown of the SIA the country experienced a a lull in criminal activity "until Mr Manning opened his mouth and started to talk. It was almost as if he sent a coded signal to the criminals, whom he treated as community leaders".
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