By Sue-Ann Wayow
A COMMITTEE has been put in place to start treating with crime and violence as a public health issue.
This was one of the announcements made by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Monday during a press conference.
Dr Rowley spoke about his recent meeting with Acting Commissioner of Police McDonald Jacob along with National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds last weekend to discuss the upsurge in crime.
He also noted that the meeting was held separately from the retreat that involved members of Cabinet and Government.
Dr Rowley who chairs the National Security Council, said certain decisions cannot be shared in public.
He said, “There are some actions to take place and the actions taking place and we will continue so to do.”
Dr Rowley said the police were convinced that the upsurge in criminal conduct and the ability of persons to arm themselves was supported by the State’s shortcomings which included not cracking down enough on illegal quarrying as the fight for land and resources continued.
“The state is going to take the relevant action, to ensure that these facilitations are curtailed and eliminated,” he said.
The intention is to develop a national plan of action with a “wide tapestry of action” and international funding may be sought.
Dr Rowley said, “That plan of action would be driven by a public health approach. That approach would involve the defining of the problem… We will identify the causes and the risk factors. We will design a response and we will test the interventions that we are going to make. And we will implement and scale up effective interventions and support continuous evaluation.
“The objective here is to enter the youth population at various levels and to begin a line of education which should steer people away from participation or being desensitised by crime and criminal activity.”
If done effectively, it would ensure a better citizenry, the prime minister said.
The exercise would be co-chaired by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services, overseen by the Office of the Prime Minister.
It would involve the Ministry of National security, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), Ministry of Sport and Community Development, the Ministry of Education and the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).
Some members of the team were already at work and documentation being prepared in the form of an action plan, Dr Rowley said.
He also said soon a meeting is being organised by CARICOM to focus on the issue of crime as a public health issue.
