Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) president Gregory Aboud, is suggesting that the T&T Police Service (TTPS) implements an incentive system for officers involved in the fight to get the gangsters off the streets.
Aboud, according to a GML report, has suggested a performance-based incentive system for the TTPS, saying there should be a measurement approach in which officers get rewards for their efforts, such as recognition, promotions and remuneration.
“In that sort of environment, you can expect an improvement in the detection rate and a reduction in the murder rate.” He said DOMA remained hopeful that police recognised the need for a constant effort to curb murders daily.
Aboud said it was a fact that rounding up alleged gang leaders was only a short-term initiative unless police lay charges.
With gangsters running rampant in the capital city over the past weeks, Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher sanctioned several anti-gang operations which started on Thursday.
A team of officers from the Belmont Police Station, Besson Street Police Station, Inter-Agency Task Force, Guard and Emergency Branch, Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit and members of the T&T Regiment executed several raids, described as gang sweeps. Officers arrested at least 15 members of three gangs, including the suspected leader of the Sixx Gang.
Aboud said: “This is the first time we are hearing that a round-up has been made, and I think it is too early to say that it was a good idea to have done this initiative because we have to wait and see if it bears fruit in the form of a reduced number of murders.”