With over 100 people murdered for 2023 already, Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher has assured that the nation will soon see a drop in the murder rate.
Speaking before a Joint Select Committee (JSC) on crime on Monday, the new top cop, in her first appearance since being appointed, promised that by the next three months, there could be some positive outcome.
She was responding to a question by JSC member Jayanti Lutchmedial, who asked: “What sort of timeline do you have in mind for these strategies to start producing results, because at the rate we going, if we continue along that trajectory, we could be looking at maybe a thousand.”
Harewood-Christopher responded by saying: “We will expect to see a change in the murder rate short-term by June and long-term by December.”
She said among the areas to be zeroed in on to reduce the crime rate was gang activity.
“We’re going to conduct extensive data mining on gangs, including seizure, locations, criminal modus operandi and profiling of members and associates. We’re going to be targeting the prolific offenders, the gang members with outstanding warrants, the drug dealers and other notorious persons,” she said.
The Police Commissioner said TTPS officials were also in the process of revising the violent crime reduction strategies and it will be made available in the coming weeks.
“What I’ll be focusing on is precision policing using intelligence, prevention, pro-action and prosecution. When I say precision policing, it is policing of the few persons responsible for the criminal activities. I’d be focusing on dismantling gangs, the seizing of firearms, eradication of drug blocks, increasing the focus on transnational crime, averaging the available technology to enhance police operations, enhancing police intelligence capability, building police legitimacy, increasing police presence, improving movement on roadways, increasing detection and prosecution of violent offenders, improving management of police operations and a zero tolerance on police ill-discipline and corruption.”
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