‘I played dead to stay alive’
By Francis Joseph
December 03, 2009 – guardian.co.tt
Codi Alves is living a second life today after he miraculously escaped death when police killed his three friends in Morvant on the night of October 1.
Alves, 30, said he had to “play dead to stay alive,” otherwise he would have been killed by the police. He “played dead” from Morvant to Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he awoke in the mortuary, much to the surprise of the lone policeman and hospital staff. But his three friends—Joel Romain, 19, a former national junior sprinter, Kerwin “Lall” Joseph, 24, and Akee Caballero, 32, were not so lucky.
So far this year, 43 people have been killed by the police. Alves is still traumatised by the incident, saying his friends were innocently killed. He walks around in a daze. He does not trust even his own shadow, and his family is worried for him. He cannot walk the streets of Morvant where he and his friends grew up. He has decided to speak out, after spending more than a month in prison, because he could not afford bail on what he called trumped-up firearm charges. He remained in prison because his own lawyer, Wayne Sturge, refused to apply for bail as he feared for Alves’ life. If an inquest is ordered into the deaths, Alves said he would willingly become a witness. He said there were other eyewitnesses to the shooting, but they were afraid, at this time, to come forward.
The following is Alves’ story:
“On September 30, we went to lime in Maloney. The next night, we went back to Building 17 at Maloney, to get girls, nah. We were liming with them, drinking and thing, nah. “After that, we jump in we car and go down the road. I was sitting behind the driver. We were followed by a jeep, coming out of Maloney. “We come out on the highway side. We accustom seeing a jeep, passing normal nah. After coming down, we stop by the driver brother in Tunapuna, then the same jeep pass we again, stop, slow down, and I ask, is that not the same jeep that follow we on the highway? “We say that normal, we have nothing on we in the car. We continue to go down the road, after we pass a street, the same jeep come out the street and follow we again, straight down to San Juan.
Full Article : guardian.co.tt
‘Police never ask me about no murder
After Codi Alves woke up in the mortuary of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, he was sedated by a nurse. That was the last thing he remembered while lying on a stretcher. He said: “The next thing, I wake up, was the next morning on a ward, handcuff to a bed. There was a next policeman guarding me. I take out meh phone which was in a bag and hide it under meh arm. All meh bloody clothes was wrapped up in a bag at the side of the bed. “The policeman come and say whey de phone that was here. I say it eh have no phone here. I end up sending a message for meh mother to send a lawyer in the hospital, Ward 43. The policeman wanted to know how this lawyer reach there, how he know to come here. They keep me there for one day and then took me to the Morvant station. “At the station, the police asking me where I going to live when I come out ah here. A next policeman saying, ‘Codi, you boasting boy, what goes around comes around.’ He mean that I was boasting in the cell that I play dead.
“I remain there until Monday when I went to court. They test me for gun powder, I don’t know what they find, I don’t know if they find any on the clothes, is machine gun they were firing. Is plenty shots fire on the car that night. They give me back the clothes. They test meh hand and they gone with it.” On the night of the incident, police said they were responding to a report of murder in Arima, and that the car in which Alves and his friends were travelling was considered the getaway car in the killing. But Alves said, as the lone survivor, he was never questioned about any murder. He said: “In the station, they ask me about no murder. A policeman come with two guns and say you know we have to give you this. I say for what, I did not have no gun in no car. He say you know how it does go, your three brethrens dead, you doh expect to walk out just so.
Full Article : guardian.co.tt
Top cop to lone survivor: Help us with probe
Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert is urging Codi Alves, the lone survivor of fatal police killings, which left three of his friends dead, in Morvant on October 1, to come forward and help investigators with the probe. Philbert said the investigation into the killing of Kerwin “Lal” Joseph, 24, Akee Caballero, 32, and Joel Romain, 19, all of Cipriani Avenue, Second Caledonia, Morvant, was on-going. The acting top cop was responding to Alves’ claims that he saw police officers murder his friends. Alves also alleged he was in the car at the time of the shooting and pretended he was dead to stay alive. Philbert spoke during an interview following the promotion of 24 First Division officers at the Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
He said: “The inquiry will eventually be submitted for consideration to the DPP who will decide whether an inquest should take place or not. “Arising from what appeared in the Guardian today (yesterday), I understand that person (Alves), from his position, seemed to be a witness in the matter. “The police will have to interview him and I hope he makes himself available for that interview, so we will be able to add some value to the investigation, which will be extremely fair.” Philbert said all consideration would be given to what Alves or any other person, who may have claimed to witness the incident, once they were interviewed by investigators.
Full Article : guardian.co.tt
As in the case of Abner Louima,in New York some years ago, the Chief of Police needs to provide Mr. Alves with round the clock security, perhaps in a confined place at the army post, until his story is checked thoroughly, or he will end up dead like his three friends. Or, perhaps, there is a secure place, right in the chief’s house on the grounds of the police training school.No one could get to him inside that house, unless he is a cleared police officer.
I fear for Mr. Alves’ life. Publicity itself may offer a modicum of safety, but if three or four police careers are on the line, and there is one witness…
Typical. Black people seeing no worth in their own fellow black person, so gang members can kill their African brother at the drop of a hat, and police officers can kill their fellow Africans like they’re lower than dogs. They can just be slaughtered because their worth is lower than an animal and therefore they don’t have much to contribute to this world, so it’s not like the world is losing anything that could have any positive impact on it.
This mentality of seeing your own people of African descent as worthless trash, especially compared to a Caucasian person, is directly from slavery- and has been passed down fully intact throughout the generations to this day.
From many of my experiences with police officers in Trinidad, I’ve come to understand that many of them are the epitome of ignorance, nothing but polished fools. The officers break the law and murder people without a fair trail are absolutely the lowest dregs of society, because they of all people are supposed to know better.
Police officers are supposed to uphold the law and be an example to the citizens- what a great example of lawlessness, murder and absolute depravity these disgusting human beings we call police officers (not all, just those who murder without trail) are setting.
Roger, the same things happens in Iran, Russia, and in the US. Only one of those three named has an African originated population of any size. Brazil too, Indonesia and other Third World countries, also have problems of illegal killings of people by police officers. Chile and Argentin were once famous for this. They are called the desaparecidos.There was a case of the rape of a woman in Western India by some men, some of whom were police officers. A woman officer was sent to investigate, and she was murdered by some of the rapists.
Wherever in the world police officers do not have their activities curbed by stringent supervisors, police tend to become outrageous. If this was Iceland, the rogue cops would be Icelandic, and so would be the victims of what may be a police execution. On the Mexican border towns like Laredo/Nuevo Laredo,both policemen are drug dealers are mass executing each other.All are Mexicans some are lighter skinned than others, but they are all Mexicans.
Your racism makes you say what you did. I do not know what ethnic group you belong to, but you do not like Africans- that is obvious.
Deepest regrets, Roger, these comments were addressed to Peter, the previous poster.
Well…there’s a heck of a lot LESS caucasian / white persons running about T&T these days – actually even less tourists coming in ever since the chain of murders, attempted murders and robbings in Tobago. I would not ALWAYS jump and bring the race of people into any and all discussions, even though T&T people have this seeming obsession about the colour of one’s skin and race of people.
I am not defending the police here, T&T police that I’ve met were “interesting” characters who seemed to have taken the job in an attempt to get power over others. Well, no different from many American cops I have seen.
My point is that the fact that these fellas happen to be black (actually Mr. Alves looks fairly mixed himself, like most West Indian “Blacks”) had little to do with what the police did. By reading the story it seems that the fellas were driving around drunk (?) in the middle of Thursday night.
Police brutality, corruption, drugs, violence, death. This is everyday life in many 3rd world countries. Like it or not, admit it or not, Trinidad & Tobago has since the 70’s steadily become nothing more than a small 3rd world country where inequality & injustice plays a bigger role than ever before. Makes me sad, but I see nothing in the air that would stop that slide from continuing.
To think T&T was once a country where people didn’t need iron bars on their windows and doors, where people could walk outside in the evening without fear, where parandero’s used to come serenading in the Christmas season from house to house. That all pretty much stopped during the 80’s and now the place far from “sweet”.
Mika, saying that an individual is hostile to African people does not mean I think the person is white. The person could be African, and had a deepseted hatred of is own.
In “Long Walk To Freedom”,the distinguished elder, Nelson Mandela tells of his first day at school, and how everything he did was put down as Backward, primitive. If this young prince was not destned for greatnness, he could have learned to hate all things African.
Many in Trinidad are not as strong. It is the only place I have heard parents refer to their children as “black,ugly and stupid too’ They get this from the society, where programs designed to make people hate African things are cleverly all around. On TV,in papers, in movies etc.People talk about bad hair, and do everything possible to erase their beautiful African hair.
Now, you are wrong about burglar bars. They have been a factor in TnT for more than 30 years, maybe longer.
Police brutality has occured in all countries. Just last G20 summit in London, some brutal white policemen, beat a white protestor to death. Police in west Africa and India , as well as Pakistan have been documented beating people,protestors as well as other civilians.
Do get your facts right. TnT is not an innocent infant, there is good and evil there as well as everywhere else.
I just wish some of these bloggers -including longstanding journalist Mr. Francis -would make up their minds. They claim today that Trinidad’s police , and other law enforcement officials are soft on crime , and so we were told that either we should perform a Christian miracle and resurrect Randy Borroughs the beloved , ‘honest,’ former ace crime fighter,or outsource our entire police service to America, Canada , Israel , and England, where crimes are almost a thing of the past due to a less ignorant , non power hungry and more intelligent species.
First you have idiots like Peter who describe our hardworking cops as “unpolished fools,” and proponents of lawlessness, while assuming that 99% of our career police offices are of African descent. In addition, would someone enlighten this clown that nearly half of the rank and file police service , including the upper echelons ,are made up of east indians. While you are at it, can you wisper in this bum’s ear, that in spite of all the perpetual stupid ,vicious ,and malicious cries by the ‘me me,’ ’dog with a bone,’ , selfish gangs , the same 50/50 representation applies to the Judiciary, health ministry, education, transport, commerce, finance , foreign service/ External affairs , sports, etc. Therefore any talk about “brutality, corruption, drugs, violence, death,” and Third world backwardness ,is the result of the collective efforts of all our 1.3 million or more simi -comatose citizens .
A s for the delusional Mika , for all her vitriolic , empty ,non substantiated, racially skewed rhetoric, one can sense that her daughter at some time in her life ,disobeyed her expressed wishes and treats of banishment by first dropping out of school, then to elope with a Somalian phony African prince , a Caribbean ganja smoking Muslim /Rasta,or better yet one of the numerous Nigerian refugees that both Canada and T&T has found so burdensome.
You can certainly tell the naivety of someone who thinks that economic and politically desperate people, are concerned about criminal statistics when deciding which country to invade. It matters not Mika if they are “caucasian / white persons,” from Europe and beloved Norte Americans still trying to convince Tobagonians that they are warm hearted , generous tourist interested in sand and salt, or some hungry Haitian, Guyanese , or West African solely interested in researching his Caribbean roots while posing as elite health official at one of our overburdened, substandard, hospitals.
It is not for me to try and decipher if Codi Alves is telling the truth, or if T&T Cops are following the lead of Guyana , Jamaica ,and Washington DC by putting in the extra judicial shootings and or missing links on suspects. What I do know however is that more people in our country would have slept better if they had found the target of the 1990 religious thug ,and his strategically placed bandit enablers ,instead of leaving it for the conniving Brits Law Lords to decide at exorbitant cost for our state treasury.
Imagine the smiles that would be brought to the faces of victims of frauds , embezzlement , and similar white color miscreants actions ,if our police were prepared to use such group elimination tactics in blessed and loving country.Speaking of that , what is the latest word on the life savings and pensions of hard working Caroni folks that invested in the HCU? Does CLICO as a high end insurance company ,carry more symbolic importance than the now defunct Sugar industry, or rather “he who pays the piper ……..?”
Ah, there I go on another of my rants. Got to give this time wasting pastime up Neal. Carnival is only two months away.
Dear Linda, my first point was that as much as there seems to be this fashionable talks here from almost every mouth about “Black against black” racially motivated crime, I really think that this is not the case – i.e. the vast majority of “black against black” crimes are not at all racially motivated, but just – crimes.
I don’t know what solace it seems to give to people to try and distort things and see a RACIAL motivation in every single crime/thing in Trinidad.
If people hate they own image and culture, I think it tells of a far deeper despair than what media or American satellite-TV can create. This tells of a society which is ridden with poverty and ignorance, missing strong & good role models who to look up to. And yes, God knows the country sorely lacking in role models of any race!!!
As for the burglar-proofing, well what can I say? Didnt have such bars at home outside our windows in Digo at the Blvd in the early 80’s as I recall. And with the amount of fans we had the only things that would have detected a burglar at night would have been the potong’s outside in the yard. Dunno, maybe my coconut plays tricks on me, have to dig up old photos and see.
Police brutality does for sure happen in most countries, no doubt. So does crime. But lets look at statistics a bit also: According to some sources, T&T had in 2008 a homicide rate of 550 – that doesn’t include the “unknown” causes of deaths. So for a nation of 1.3 million, 550 murders.
If UK for example had similar murder rate compared to its population, there would be almost 26,000 murder happening in the country. Instead the number is less than a thousand.
My point? Crime, police burtality and such is FAR MORE COMMON in T&T these days than in much of the world Trini like to compare themselves to. The numbers are staggering, and well in the same levels as in the worst 3rd world countries. So it’s fine for us to hide our heads in the bushes and always say “crime does happen elsewhere too”, but how long do we want to keep saying this, pretending it’s the same old “sweet” T&T? Because it simply is NOT. The state of the country makes me extremely sad and angry, but I am not going to pretend all is well. Anyone who’s seen better days in T&T knows today’s reality is a far cry from the past. Once I dreamed of retiring to Tobago. Now I no longer think so. Even the land in Las Lomas is full of squatters, well they can have it.
Neal, the things you write are getting more and more comfusing. Your fervent ramblings are so filled with self-righteousness and self-sung praise of singular understanding over the “big picture” that they seem almost masturbatory in two sense – one being the self-gratification you must get from mocking us fools who see things differently whilst You know it all, and two – in their very nature of achieving actually nothing productive.
Bakr the criminal and his Jamat-gang should be still rotting in jail or should have faced the firing squad long ago for what they did to the nation. Releasing those idiots was an unbelievable joke. At that point T&T should have told the Commonwealth and the Brits where to stuff if and sever off ties for the next 10 years.
What civilization was built on role models? I’m sure if parents were parents rather than trying to relive their childhood after the kids were born that the kids would grow up to be responsible and productive adults without “role models”. Then again, it is the children having kids because the right to some wrong or series of wrongs was never corrected.
The perception of who is likely to commit crimes and the perception of those likely to issue justice are skewed at best. The child with the questionable childhood that never got caught and becomes an officer of the law can be equally dangerous if not more to law and order.
I wouldn’t rely on statistics because those are just the incidents that are reported. It takes a person actually being in the community to know what’s going on in the community.
I thought that I already stated that people should only make comments about communities that they spend time in or know personally? Some people like to speak about Black on Black crime, failing to acknowledge that in most countries of the world, it is a crime to be black. That’s the big picture going back to perception. We can expand on that by discussing social distance, economics, politics, etc….. of both sides of the law in all aspects of the society. No matter what, you will find that it is always a crime to be Black whether the offender or the victim is Black.
With all of the reasons for Africans of the world to want to help each other grow, prosper, and succeed under the circumstances and problems facing the race, what else could it be besides self hate when one African executes another? The media and television may not have created the despair, but they do contribute heavily to that despair by their reckless attitude concerning vulnerable groups in society. Usually those groups have been exploited over time. They who did the exploiting suddenly stopped to take picture to show the world the distorted current identity of a exploited group as if that is just how they are rather than providing the history of how it got to that state of being.
T&T can never disown the Brits. That’s Massa for T&T. When the queen says,” Jump”, Manning says,” how long and to what rhythm?”
I’m finished rambling.
Let’s examine the logic of Mika in all it’s non masturbatory . We should have left the Commonwealth , but never give up on the Privy council. She is not only a historian of great repute after examining a few online sites , but a security expert as well due to her fine interpretation of some British and US tourist warnings statistics. Her naivety forces her to disagree , so she chooses to depict my utterances as confused rambling.
Once she had planned to retire to Tobago , but no longer? Settling instead for the scorpion fields of Arizona, or Florida the hurricane zone , huh Mika.
What a pathetic , condescending character indeed!
I watch in near despair as supposedly intelligent Trinis us any topic posted to attack each other,moving as fast as they could from the topic,in this case police brutality, and posible criminality, toattack each other because of where thye lie and what societal priviledges they enjoy.
No wonder things in TnT are a bit of a mess. the bloggers on sites in the US are the same.Any opinion piece is attacked by commentators, who proceed to savage each other. No wonder nothing changes, they all stay the same.There was a conference at a major university in Houston recently on “Civility and morality in personal life” at first I asked Now who neesds this? then I had to think that we have lost every form of civil discourse we once had. Its attack the person for their sex, race, age, education or lack thereof,political affiliation, where they have travelled. and so on. The world is a barrel full of angry, greedy crabs.
Parents suck the sour grapes, and set their children’s teeth on edge unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate.
how I wish we could collectively ask for, and recieve an explabation from the COPofwhat happened in the case of Mr. Alves, but his plight is lost in verbiage.
Codi Alves’ story is quite believable and those who are familiar with the police (dis-) service from its inception would know that that is how elements within it operate.
Wanting the police to do their work – improve crime prevention and detection – should not mean we have to condone murders committed by them. No one in their right mind should support elements within the police service acting as judges, juries and executioners. I know about police perpetrating crimes: planting drugs on people, fabricating evidence and other misdeeds.
The recent upsurge in police killings seems quite suspicious to me, especially since they all give the same story of the suspects firing at the police first and the police returning fire, then, when the smoke clears, several of the suspects are dead. I do not believe the police.
There are many corrupt and murderous police officers out there and they contribute to people not having confidence in them. Personally, I do not trust the police, especially those higher up in rank. Of course, there are officers who are hardworking and would like to make a difference. But many of these officers who stay clear of corruption are sidelined or sent to the traffic branch to walk the streets or other dead-end positions.
Getting tough on crime should not be about the police breaking the laws they are there to uphold.
In Brazil men of the police force were moonlighting in death squads killing street kids causing problems to vendors & shop owners in some areas. In Trinidad criminals such as the Jamat gang have in the past been hired to provide “security” services.
Currently the police has been receiving a lot of criticism for their inability to solve crimes, and I have no doubt many of the officers are not exactly clean when drugs money and gangs run amok in the country.
It is easy for “officers of the law” to plant evidence into the hands of people when things go wrong or something happens which threatens to make the police look bad.
Whether this case is one of police blatant wrong-doing (sorry, murder) or not is impossible for any of us to know. But Trinidad & Tobago is suffering from crime and corruption on an unpresidented scale. I know some say I’m a fool or actually worse for saying this, but the financial drain and brain-drain caused by people leaving T&T is definitely increasing and much of that is because of personal insecurity people feel. I know whole large families who have left with all the relatives too to go to Canada or USA, siting crime as number one reason.
I have been called names, my friend’s I’ve mentioned called God knows what, my opinions thrashed just because I haven’t been a “yes, oh you so right” type of commenter here. Look who acting like the massa of the forum, trying to dictate what & who can write here..Any offenders face a litanny of slander and insults which really kill the discussions.
Curtis thinks that “in most countries of the world, it is a crime to be black”. I am truly, truly sorry if you believe that man, because it means your life must be a burden to live. Lift your head up and be proud! In most countries it is NOT a crime to be black. I do not know what is your view on “most countries” but it must differ from mine. I know many good people of all different races who live happily together in various countries, with no interference from the society either.
Although I may believe that my race is a target in many nations, doesn’t mean that I’m not proud. As a matter of fact, I’m so proud that I am willing to do on to others as they have done on to me.
Does anyone think that it is not a burden for the victim to have to live with the perpetrators because the outside community will scorn the victim if the victim removes the perpetrator from the victims’ house?
Is it a burden to have a house guest take over your house and dictate how you should live?
Is it a burden to fight for freedom and win only to find that the value of freedom that all mankind hold dear is the same value that all of your new neighbors frown upon you for and as a result refuse to trade with you?
Is it a burden to half to assimilate with cultural norms that aren’t yours in order to eat?
If you were a well accomplished person with millions in a bank account living in an up scale neighborhood, would it be a burden to be regularly stopped by law enforcement?
I think of Zimbabwe, South Africa, Haiti, and many more.
Like I said, “I am willing to do on to others as they have done on to me.”
“The child with the questionable childhood…. becomes an officer…”Curtis has made a very valid point here. Power obtained in numerous instances can be used as a means to other dangerous ends. We should note however that this is not limited to the police. A crook becomes a banker or a CEO of a Credit Union or Insurance company and preys on innocent gullible citizens. How about the unscrupulous lawyer that emerged as a DPP, Magistrate , Chief Justice , or an immoral defense attorney? Don’t forget ,guys who graduate from Sandhust, West-point ,and similar coup schools like School of the Americas. We should not ignore religious leaders ,and teachers who misuse their power of influence on young, and poor impressionable creatures. One of my all time favorite is the journalist who would never appreciate the word objectivity if it knocks them in the head,and finally,those twisted characters who gravitate to politics with sinister purposes. Listen folks , your police officers are a microcosm of the society from whence they came. I for one can never , ever condone any form of abuse of power and so conducted myself in an exemplary fashion when I had the honor of holding a position of responsibility in my own country during a certain period of my life. Having said that however , let me hasten to add that you do yourself a disservice if you only choose to love and appreciate Police officers,when you or someone close becomes a victim and need their services.
Your point is noted Ms. L , one should up the anti in terms of civility in our daily discourse , and not resort to gutter tactics when conversing on the bloggersphere. Apologies are in order on my part , to all where applicable.
Regards.
It is just not enough to blame the status quo of T&T in the hands of racism and descrimination; it goes far beyond that! Those of you who would settle for that niche to explain it should reasearch just a little further and with an open mind. Ignoring relevant facts just to enjoy a rum shop conversation and feel educated does nothing to advance the argument of “racism” being the cause.
In my view, none of the current politicians who have had influence in one government or another are without blame for the status quo. They each live on the “high” of power. They have all failed the citizens of the nation with their complacency for the top dog and those conncected to them.
Panday and his cronies had a chance to make significant changes that would have essentially have an adverse effect on the lives of citizens. Instead, they chose the same road as the PNM; which is to build, build, build and hope it’s enough to maintain a legacy and out do the other; and hope to reap the rewards at the next run at the polls. As typtical of Trinbagonians, they see no evil, hear no evil and speak a lot of nonesnse and lies in support of the evils being perpetrated on the people. These loyalists’ have no sense of decency and concern for anyone other thatn themselves. I will categorize them as melignant hemrhoids in the way of a struggling nation.
On any given day, each one of the present government officials are impeachable by thier own words and deeds. While the currents government outspend the rest of the world jockeying for political recognition, the people of the country continue to be deprived of the very basic of necessities, a place to live. The worse is yet to come from the leaders of this current administration.
Pay attention folks ,we have a big one here for cousin felix wants to impeach present government officials for callous , insensitive behaviors ,and subpar , questionable performances , but apart from a tame three lined hear no evil … rejoinder , we aren’t too certain as to what he intends to do with others with overwhelming evidence stacked against them that would blackmail the Queen and manufacture a genocidal mass grave in peaceful T&T for the benefit of CNN & the BBC,if they think that would keep them out of prison.
I was told that the extra-judicial murders began some 40 odd years ago when the government created a death squad, aka the Flying Squad, within the police service. This Flying Squad was comprised of a group of police officers and was allowed to operate outside of the laws of this country. The objective of the Flying Squad was to intimidate or eliminate those who challenged the social conditions that existed at that time, and during this period, many Trinbagonians were murdered by the Flying Squad. Some police officers were reluctant to go along with the extra-judicial murders but felt pressured to do so. There were no inquests or investigations after these extra-judicial murders. The same holds true today for some individuals who are murdered by some police officers. After the social unrest of the sixties and seventies ended, the Flying Squad was given a new role. The role was to go after anyone who was considered a bandit. The Flying Squad has since been disbanded; however, SOME police officers have adopted their tactics. Because crimes in general and violent crime in particular have been increasing since the seventies, the public has essentially given the government the green light to shoot its way out of the crime crisis. The public therefore has to bear some responsibility for these extra-judicial murders, especially those clueless Trinbagonians who call for the return of the Flying Squad. My concern is that this issue will not be addressed, and it would simply be soon forgotten. The reason for this is due in part to a large part of the population becoming desensitised by the daily reports of the carnage and mayhem. I suspect that the consequences of the crime crisis have not registered with many people. This country is in a very deep crisis, and the crisis is getting deeper each day. Nevertheless, many are placing the blame for the crisis in just about every direction. Over the years, blame has been placed on Manning, Panday, Robbie, URP, CEPEP, religion, parents, gangs, fathers, schools, TV, drugs, teachers, Laventille, Machel’s music, Reggae music, Carnival, and the list goes on. What we have been witnessing in recent times is a serious breakdown at all levels of the society. The government is operating outside of the law, and it is not being held accountable. Criminals, including those in jacket and tie, are becoming more brazen and desperate. Unfortunately, the crime crisis does not appear to be going away anytime soon, and some people appear to have resigned themselves to the situation. Others have decided to cast blame on the entire police service for the escalating crime crisis. The fact is that most individuals within the police service are hard-working, honest individuals. Some are our fathers, mothers, uncles, or aunts, so it would be unfair to blame the entire police service for the actions of the rogue officers who operate outside of the law. Many people simply believe there are no solutions to the crime crisis and just do not care anymore. Moreover, there is no pressure being placed on politicians to have the crisis addressed. Does anyone truly know why there is so much crime in this so-called paradise? Where did this country go wrong? Would we ever have a solution to the crime crisis? Is the crime crisis tied to this country’s economic model and the level of corruption in government? Are some people being affected mentally by the ongoing fear and stress brought on by the increasing level of crime? People need to be reminded once again that a politician has never been convicted or sent to prison for corruption in the history of this country, and this could be a significant factor in the crime crisis. The level of crime and its effects are costing this country not just in dollars and cents but also in human lives.
“People need to be reminded once again that a politician has never been convicted or sent to prison for corruption in the history of this country, and this could be a significant factor in the crime crisis.” Very astute observation Martin, but let’s not limit this to only politicians , shall we? Let’s throw in a few CEO heads, and similar corporation white color bandits that have been running roughshod over the country since Massa departed, eh? Shall we say HCU , and CLICO for a start? I call it the ‘ The equal justice / level playing field concept.’ Long prison sentences, confiscation of all accrued wealth , and cat-o- nine -tail for them as well, agreed? I must warn you however to be careful of what you ask for .