Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher said while the T&T Police Service (TTPS) has made important strides in reducing the crime rate, the population is still unhappy because the homicide rate is still high.
During a forum hosted by the Confederation of Regional Business Chambers and the Trade and Development Unit of the University of the West Indies (UWI) at the Trade and Learning Complex at UWI St Augustine campus yesterday, she said, “The barometer for crime in T&T has for quite some time been the homicide rate.”
“The TTPS is working hard and achieving creditable results in many of its anti-crime initiatives, including the seizure of high-powered weapons. Those achievements are eclipsed and subordinated to discussions about the homicide rate. So unless the public experiences a reduction in the homicide rate, the public perception of crime will be negative,” said Harewood-Christopher.
She added, however, that the TTPS has had success in the retrieval of firearms, which will ultimately save lives.
“For 2022, 87 per cent of our murders were committed by firearms. It is important to note that for 2023, we have already recovered 185 firearms and over 6,384 rounds of ammunition. Think of the number of lives saved.”
Meanwhile she is holding strong to her statements a few weeks ago, calling on God’s assistance to deal with crime.
The statement raised an entire debate and speaking at the function at UWI, Harewood-Christopher reiterated her call.
She said: “The last time I spoke at a forum like this, what was subsequently reported and widely commented upon was not the efficacy of the very detailed and comprehensive plan addressing several areas of policing to address the crime situation in T&T, but instead references to a single statement I made in relation to divine intervention, which I maintain is relevant to the discourse and I say it again, we know God is in control of everything, so we need his intervention.”
COMMENTS