Caption: File photo – High ranking police officers in front of illegal weapons seized in Santa Cruz in October last year. Photo: TTPS
By Alicia Chamely
LAST week I touched on the licensing Demerit Point System and argued if we just followed the rules of the road we wouldn’t have to worry about having our licences revoked or having to sell a kidney to pay those hefty tickets fines.
Folks I might as well have gone outside and pelted stones at the jep nest in my mango tree.
People were touchy, especially a particular keyboard warrior, that needed to express: “Alicia Chamely is DUNCE” on two social media pages that shared my article and another that accused me of being an undercover operative of the PNM… Sir have you read my work, I am non-discriminate in my mockery and disdain. (Editor’s Note: Just Google ‘Alicia Chamely AZP News’)
You can’t hurt my feelings! I don’t have any! So, jokes on you!
Perhaps the message was misunderstood or not clearly articulated. So let me clarify…if you follow the law, you won’t have to suffer the consequences. I do not necessarily agree with all the traffic regulations, yes there are some areas where a speed limit can be reassessed, and yes there are some officers who get a butt tickling pleasure from terrorising people, but all in all road regulations are there to protect us, like most laws of the land.
‘So, until the great messiah comes, we citizens need to start the change’
Trinis, however, have an amazing talent of defending the breaking of what we shall refer too as “little laws” or “small crimes.”
I cannot completely blame us for this thinking, we consistently see our government, politicians and in some cases large corporations (especially a particular energy company whose negligence caused the death of five divers) break all sorts of “big-time laws” with not so much as a slap on the wrist.
Criminologists have agreed that a stronger focus on tackling and punishing small crimes such as petty theft, slapping a man for mashing your Clarkes, public intoxication, walking under walkovers, etc., can effectively result in the reduction of more serious crimes.
Think about it, if little Charlie gets in trouble for loitering, sees his school friends get charged for fighting, and watches as his uncle goes to jail for shoplifting a nip of rum from the parlour, he is more than likely to obey the laws of the land.
If gangs are cracked down on, no more government contacts, their supply of guns and drugs starts getting seized and its members are regularly charged and incarcerated, youths are less likely to want to become involved in gang activity as it is not worth the risk.
Furthermore, with less willing youth to take a bullet or two for a short lifetime of “respect and belonging” gangs become starved for members and their power and influence slowly dies.
‘For every excuse we make for a law breaker, big or small, we justify and condone the thriving spirit of lawlessness in T&T’
“But Alicia, you dunce or what, that cyah happen in T&T, we like it so!” says every sour puss on the internet. And to an extent they are right. The current atmosphere will not allow this to happen. Why?
Because corruption and under handedness run rampant within our government entities and law enforcement systems.
For us to properly tackle crime and create a more productive society, we need to approach the top. You cannot expect little Charlie to follow the rules, when the people he learns about in social studies are regularly accused of crimes themselves, face little to no consequence, and continue to live lives of luxury and influence.
For change to happen an elected official who is not afraid to clash with their own party members, throw down with every union, make a ton of enemies (especially those who went from having their plates full to not a single crumb), hand out harsh punishments, break legacies, disrupt generational systems of corruption, and appologise to the people of T&T on behalf of those who came before them, is needed.
‘Honestly, if you are looking to call someone a dunce, focus on the dunces at the Tobago House of Assembly that effectively started an unnecessary shark cull…’
Essentially, someone with the testicular or ovarian fortitude to hit “reset”. Our judicial, legal and law enforcement entities need to be cleared out, enhanced, and restructured.
There needs to be equality in system; the same effort we put out to find a ministers son’s cellphone or a Chutney superstar’s dog, needs to be put into finding the seized guns that go missing from Customs or the many missing children and teenagers of our tiny nation.
Sadly, we may end up waiting an eternity for such a leader to come our way. So, until the great messiah comes, we citizens need to start the change. We need to start following the rules, we need to start helping and mentoring those in our communities, we need to stop making excuses for other’s bad behavior, especially those in office.
For every excuse we make for a law breaker, big or small, we justify and condone the thriving spirit of lawlessness in T&T. Call me dreamer, a dunce, a disconnected Marie Antionette, but we all need to put in the work.
Yes, our leaders hold a lot of blame, but we do as well. Honestly, if you are looking to call someone a dunce, focus on the dunces at the Tobago House of Assembly that effectively started an unnecessary shark cull, which will for sure have a massive impact on the fragility of our reefs ecosystem… you know those reefs that tourists come to see, providing a stream of income to the country. If you are looking for dunces, there you go.
I’m No Dunce for Paying My Traffic Ticket
Caption: File photo – High ranking police officers in front of illegal weapons seized in Santa Cruz in October last year. Photo: TTPS
LAST week I touched on the licensing Demerit Point System and argued if we just followed the rules of the road we wouldn’t have to worry about having our licences revoked or having to sell a kidney to pay those hefty tickets fines.
Folks I might as well have gone outside and pelted stones at the jep nest in my mango tree.
People were touchy, especially a particular keyboard warrior, that needed to express: “Alicia Chamely is DUNCE” on two social media pages that shared my article and another that accused me of being an undercover operative of the PNM… Sir have you read my work, I am non-discriminate in my mockery and disdain. (Editor’s Note: Just Google ‘Alicia Chamely AZP News’)
You can’t hurt my feelings! I don’t have any! So, jokes on you!
Perhaps the message was misunderstood or not clearly articulated. So let me clarify…if you follow the law, you won’t have to suffer the consequences. I do not necessarily agree with all the traffic regulations, yes there are some areas where a speed limit can be reassessed, and yes there are some officers who get a butt tickling pleasure from terrorising people, but all in all road regulations are there to protect us, like most laws of the land.
‘So, until the great messiah comes, we citizens need to start the change’
Trinis, however, have an amazing talent of defending the breaking of what we shall refer too as “little laws” or “small crimes.”
I cannot completely blame us for this thinking, we consistently see our government, politicians and in some cases large corporations (especially a particular energy company whose negligence caused the death of five divers) break all sorts of “big-time laws” with not so much as a slap on the wrist.
Criminologists have agreed that a stronger focus on tackling and punishing small crimes such as petty theft, slapping a man for mashing your Clarkes, public intoxication, walking under walkovers, etc., can effectively result in the reduction of more serious crimes.
Think about it, if little Charlie gets in trouble for loitering, sees his school friends get charged for fighting, and watches as his uncle goes to jail for shoplifting a nip of rum from the parlour, he is more than likely to obey the laws of the land.
If gangs are cracked down on, no more government contacts, their supply of guns and drugs starts getting seized and its members are regularly charged and incarcerated, youths are less likely to want to become involved in gang activity as it is not worth the risk.
Furthermore, with less willing youth to take a bullet or two for a short lifetime of “respect and belonging” gangs become starved for members and their power and influence slowly dies.
‘For every excuse we make for a law breaker, big or small, we justify and condone the thriving spirit of lawlessness in T&T’
“But Alicia, you dunce or what, that cyah happen in T&T, we like it so!” says every sour puss on the internet. And to an extent they are right. The current atmosphere will not allow this to happen. Why?
Because corruption and under handedness run rampant within our government entities and law enforcement systems.
For us to properly tackle crime and create a more productive society, we need to approach the top. You cannot expect little Charlie to follow the rules, when the people he learns about in social studies are regularly accused of crimes themselves, face little to no consequence, and continue to live lives of luxury and influence.
For change to happen an elected official who is not afraid to clash with their own party members, throw down with every union, make a ton of enemies (especially those who went from having their plates full to not a single crumb), hand out harsh punishments, break legacies, disrupt generational systems of corruption, and appologise to the people of T&T on behalf of those who came before them, is needed.
‘Honestly, if you are looking to call someone a dunce, focus on the dunces at the Tobago House of Assembly that effectively started an unnecessary shark cull…’
Essentially, someone with the testicular or ovarian fortitude to hit “reset”. Our judicial, legal and law enforcement entities need to be cleared out, enhanced, and restructured.
There needs to be equality in system; the same effort we put out to find a ministers son’s cellphone or a Chutney superstar’s dog, needs to be put into finding the seized guns that go missing from Customs or the many missing children and teenagers of our tiny nation.
Sadly, we may end up waiting an eternity for such a leader to come our way. So, until the great messiah comes, we citizens need to start the change. We need to start following the rules, we need to start helping and mentoring those in our communities, we need to stop making excuses for other’s bad behavior, especially those in office.
For every excuse we make for a law breaker, big or small, we justify and condone the thriving spirit of lawlessness in T&T. Call me dreamer, a dunce, a disconnected Marie Antionette, but we all need to put in the work.
Yes, our leaders hold a lot of blame, but we do as well. Honestly, if you are looking to call someone a dunce, focus on the dunces at the Tobago House of Assembly that effectively started an unnecessary shark cull, which will for sure have a massive impact on the fragility of our reefs ecosystem… you know those reefs that tourists come to see, providing a stream of income to the country. If you are looking for dunces, there you go.