THE majority of violent and serious crimes in Trinidad and Tobago are committed with the use of guns.
A release from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) on Friday stated, “Acting Commissioner of Police Mc Donald Jacob, wants to erase citizens’ fear of crime and the perceived risk of victimisation, especially as it relates to violent and serious crimes, such as murders, in which 85 percent usually involve the use of guns.”
It stated that the TTPS was upping the ante and moving full throttle to eradicate the illicit trade and use of illegal firearms throughout the country.
Jacob spoke to a team of officers of the Western Division in St James on Thursday afternoon before a crime suppression exercise.
He underscored the calculated approach is not only seizing illegal firearms and ammunition, but utilising the latest technology and forensic science in solving crimes which were committed using these weapons.
Mr Jacob said, “We are pushing strongly but we just don’t want the firearms to be seized and found. We want the firearms to take the whole 360 degrees in the context of the scientific part, the forensic side and the investigative aspect to be dealt with. We are providing incentives straight up the ladder throughout all tiers of the process.”
“At the end of the day, if we can really use the same tool which is being utilise to commit serious crimes as a crime-fighting tool, the manner in which we analyse it, and extract evidence from Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), to ballistics to fingerprints, it will help us tremendously in taking a great number of offenders of the street.”
He said the TTPS’ executive initiative to incentivise police operations has yielded arrests and charges for those bent on destabilising and destroying communities.
The acting CoP referred to a reward ceremony held earlier in the day at the Police Administration Building in Port-of-Spain, in which all nine Police Divisions were recognised for their performances in removing guns from the hands of criminals.
The monetary rewards were distributed through the divisional commanders who in turn will cause the officers at the individual level to receive some degree of recognition at the close of the year.
Jacob reminded the team, which included officers of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT), Task Force, Crime Patrol, Canine Unit and officers from the various police stations throughout the Western Division about their social responsibility to the nation.
He said, “We are the shield between the law-abiding and the criminals and we must ensure that our people, our citizens, can go about their business without feeling that someone is going to attack or harm them in any way.”
