By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 13, 2019
In 1981, after teaching in the United States for about ten years, I decided to return home for good. To do so I had to erect a personal library so I could do my work. Without my library I would be lost, so I asked my first cousin—one of those cousins who possesses the skills to do everything—to build a library at the back of my mother’s house.
Continue reading Jamming the Poor, Still
By Raffique Shah
April 30, 2019
Gary Griffith’s unilateral declaration of a “cold war” on the conventional media in general, and the CCN Group in particular, was as predictable as it was inevitable. As a garrulous ex-military officer whose larger-than-life public image was literally forged by and in the mass media, he failed to understand that unlike publicists who are paid to promote a product or personality, successful media houses thrive on their fierce independence in disseminating news and views.
Continue reading Wage war against criminals, not the media
By Raffique Shah
September 19, 2018
Gary Griffith couldn’t have scripted a better opening act for his entry onto the national stage as the new Commissioner of Police, even if he were the Bard of Cascade or whatever suburb he lives in or comes from.
After six years of play-acting by career police officer Stephen Williams, and amidst much intrigue, controversy and good old Trinidad bacchanal over the selection of a new CoP, which featured principal parts played by politicians of every hue and persuasion, not to add cameos by a significant number among the “extras” in the 1.4 million population, Gary landed the starring role—and what an entry he made.
Continue reading Enter Gary Griffith: Act One
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 12, 2018
My first impulse was to congratulate the government for voting to appoint Gary Griffith Commissioner of Police (CoP). Whatever Griffith’s weaknesses, his appointment promised to give the police force the stability it deserves and the country the space it needs to breathe easier; that is, until Stuart Young, “Ad-minister of everything but master of nothing,” was recycled into the Ministry of National Security.
Without even being confirmed, Griffith hit the airways telling the population what he would and would not do although prudence dictated that he meet with the leadership of the police force, learn from their experiences, and tell them of his plans to make the force a more efficient unit. After such discussions, he could have determined how best to attack the monster called crime.
Continue reading “Don’t Talk About It; Be About It!”
By Raffique Shah
July 25, 2018
I pity the poor bugger who finds favour with both government and opposition parties to be appointed the new Commissioner of Police. If that wretched soul happens to be Captain Gary Grffith as reported in the Sunday Express, then I’ll do something I’ve not done in 50-odd years: I’ll fall on my knees and pray that Jah makes the purgatory of that post easy for him for the few months that he would become the “Chief Bobolee” to blame for the crime epidemic that no mortal can mitigate, far less eradicate.
Continue reading Looking for a commissioner or a “Bobolee”?
By Tyehimba Salandy
July 16, 2018
The recent incident of the Minister of Finance Colm Imbert’s son being robbed provided one more example of something that most Trinbagonians know deeply. That is, the law firstly and most responsively serves the elite members of the society. After being robbed on Friday, the phone was recovered on Monday in the Beetham area. Ordinary citizens were understandably outraged because the speedy police action was much different to what they may be accustomed to in similar cases.
Continue reading Citizens Deserve the Imbert Treatment Too
By Raffique Shah
May 8, 2018
The Sunday Express described it as a “disaster week” for the Police Service. If I were the editor, I would have headlined the editorial “Police Service a disaster zone”. With apologies to the many dedicated police officers who adhere to their oath of office and battle against Sisyphean odds of rampant lawlessness within their ranks and in the country at large, the events of last week involving their colleagues engaging in criminal activities or shameful acts were not aberrations.
Continue reading Police Service a disaster zone
By Raffique Shah
February 27, 2018
While I empathise with the trainee teacher who was robbed at gunpoint on her school’s compound last Wednesday morning—I suffered a similar fate at my home back in 2002—I do not understand why people are shocked by the brazen, early morning robbery.
If we feel schools should be sacrosanct, that bandits and other criminals should show respect for our institutes of education, perish the thought. Some parents, teachers and students have long jettisoned that notion by their misbehavior, and students’ brawls captured on the ubiquitous phone-video-cameras are among the most popular fare uploaded onto sundry so-called social media Internet sites, providing perverse entertainment for people who seem to spend all their waking hours digesting cyber-garbage.
Continue reading No guns in our schools
By Ryan Hamilton-Davis
February 20, 2018 – newsday.co.tt
“Christmas” is dead, and Port of Spain residents are not happy about it.
Police allegedly shot a man with that alias during the hours of last night, and in response, residents have taken to the streets in fiery protest, burning debris and blocking major roads which lead to the capital.
Continue reading “Christmas” killed, residents protest
Al-Rawi assures GOVT IN CONTROL
By Shane Superville and Ryan Hamilton-Davis
December 05, 2017 – newsday.co.tt
Amid an unprecedented crime wave which has seen 16 murders committed within the first four days of December, came an assurance yesterday by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi that government is in control of the situation.
Commenting on the 16 murders, which has brought the year’s toll to 461 as compared to 430 for the same period last year, Al-Rawi said he is concerned not only by murders but all crimes.
Continue reading 16 murders in 4 days