The Confederation of Regional Business Chambers was not invited to the 2-day Regional Symposium on Crime and its members are feeling slighted by government for it.
In a media release yesterday, the chamber said it finds this action very abhorrent and has a callous disregard for the business chambers that exist outside Port of Spain.
It noted that the Confederation of Regional Business Chambers consists of 12 business chambers under one umbrella and has a complete membership over 3,500 members.
However, with that said the Confederation agrees with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley that a substantial amount of social work and interventions has to be done with families, high-risk neighbourhoods, and schools.
The chamber said schoolyards have now become the gayelle of violence and bitter confrontation.
“Crime is a public health issue, shares common causes with ill health, particularly poverty, and fear of violent crime is itself a major cause of anxiety accompanied with existential mental and emotional health problems for citizens,” the chambers outlined.
The Confederation further advanced the view that community development in both primary and secondary schools, parental education, and among high-risk districts, both reduces crime and promotes better health, for example by reducing the effects of alcohol and illicit drugs.
The chambers said the continuous changing of Ministers of National Security in the past should bring an understanding to past and present governments that the problem is becoming highly complicated, deeply entrenched and rapidly spreading at an accelerating pace.
“In addition, our society has witnessed how our law enforcement officers and other arms of the protective services have compromised themselves by way of being involved in criminal activities. This is very unfortunate,” it stated.
The Confederation of Regional Business Chambers said that while crime and violence in schools are derived primarily from factors external to schools, violent behaviour may also be aggravated by factors in the school environment, including the physical environment, its educational and social climate, and its organisational capacity and composition.
“Statements have also been made about the consistently increasing budgetary allocations for national security. There is no choice in this matter. But what is essential is ensuring that this money is successfully utilised for the acquisition of police vehicles, manpower, equipment, and weapons for the police that are standard issues and even employ the use of satellite technology to monitor and mitigate crime as is done in Israel,” the chambers said.
If not fully addressed, and if crime levels rise, the chamber noted there will be less money for other services such as education and healthcare and crime also cost individuals through higher prices in shops for goods and services.
The chambers added that it is critical for the Government to resort to measures to restore business confidence, and not to resort to negative and insensitive statements which will create more nervousness and uncertainty than optimism. “Rather than assuaging worries among entrepreneurs, Government must be seen to be taking concrete steps to prevent crimes, interventions in schools and at-risk communities, and constructive engagement with business organisations and business leaders and encouraging them to create jobs and economic growth by collaborating to enhance the enabling environment.
Unemployment remains high, especially among young people. These are the trends that Government must seek to reverse through collaboration with the private sector,” the chambers concluded.
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