T&T PM warns of another SoE if threats return

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has warned that she will not hesitate to declare another State of Emergency (SoE) if serious threats to the safety and security of citizens re-emerge. The SoE ended on Thursday at midnight. Her warning came after the House of Representatives passed the Special Operations Bill early this morning, with Persad-Bissessar saying the legislation would next be considered by the Senate.

The Prime Minister said the recently concluded SoE had resulted in 3,552 people being charged, which she described as a highly successful operation. “I want the local drug mafia and the violent gangs to understand clearly that the cells at Teteron and MSP await again if you continue your criminal behavior,” she said. She accused criminal elements of having “tortured and terrorized” law-abiding citizens for decades and said this situation must end. The Prime Minister also criticized the Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), along with unnamed commentators and groups, accusing them of opposing measures intended to tackle crime.

She alleged that these groups wanted “a criminal state” and accused them of acting as “mouthpieces for drug traffickers and criminals”. Persad-Bissessar said communities, including Westmoorings, Federation Park and St Clair, were being affected by gangs and illegal drugs and guns.

Note : When the Government was silent PNM accused them of doing nothing and clueless about crime? Now jail them rasses and complaint starts.

Alexander on body cameras available to TTPS: ‘We will work with what we have’

Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander says the Government will have to make do with the body cameras currently available to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), as concerns grow over whether there are enough functioning devices and whether their use will be mandatory during operations under the proposed Special Operations Bill.

The bill will permit police officers, assisted by members of the Defence Force, to conduct special operations in areas declared closed. Officers involved in those operations are expected to wear body cameras, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had declared on Wednesday.

However, the legislation stops short of making their use mandatory. Instead, it states that body cameras should be used as far as practicable, subject to available resources.

Young: Special Operations Bill could create a ‘police state’

Former prime minister Stuart Young has accused the Government of using the Special Operations Bill to suppress constitutional rights, warning that the legislation could turn Trinidad and Tobago into what he described as a “police State.” Young made the claims during yesterday’s debate in the House of Representatives, as the Government defended legislation that would establish seven policing districts, six in Trinidad and one in Tobago, and provide a legal framework for special operations involving the T&T Police Service (TTPS) and, where necessary, the Defense Force.

Criticizing the pace at which the bill was brought before Parliament, Young described it as a “hustled debate,” saying MPs had been given less than 48 hours to consider what he characterized as far-reaching legislation. “The UNC is passing legislation here today that makes Trinidad and Tobago nothing less than a police state, with a trampling of the constitutional rights of all citizens, not just those who engage in criminality.” Rejecting arguments that law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear from the bill, he called that assertion “complete rubbish.”

Young maintained that the restrictions would primarily affect law-abiding citizens, as criminals could simply relocate their activities elsewhere. “The criminal element will just pick up and move. The one per cent will leave the closed area. No criminal is going to stay there and say, ‘Well, I am going to operate in a cordoned-off area.’ That’s UNC logic. It doesn’t operate that way. It is the law-abiding citizen, it is your rights they are trampling on.”

Note: See why this PNM moron was T&T PM for about a week then got voted out.