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A total of $295 million worth of illegal narcotics have been seized through the efforts of Crime Stoppers T&T (CSTT) in the past 19 years, according to the organisation.
This and other statistics were revealed by Garland Samuel, the Executive Manager of Crime Stoppers, during a town meeting hosted in conjunction with the Chaguanas Chamber of Commerce at the Chaguanas Borough Auditorium at Cumberbatch Street on Tuesday night.
He said Crime Stoppers is an NGO that is served by a volunteer board of directors that represents members of the business community, the THA and similar entities.
“Crime Stoppers is not the police.. it is a partnership between the community, the media and law enforcement,” he said.
He said in the last 19 years the organisation has been in operation, it has also received 588,066 calls, 19,674 tips that led to 1,607 arrests, and led to the recovery of stolen items to the value of $20, 554, 9924.
Samuel said Crime Stoppers is the best option for reporting crimes since it works on the level anonymity.
He said this may be advantageous to business people who may want to use the tip line as a medium for employees to report criminal activities happening at their business places. He said Crime Stoppers could also be used to report counterfeit goods.
Darrin Carmichael, executive member of Crime Stoppers and CEO of Community Defense Services, gave advice in setting up neighbourhood watch groups. He said safe neighbourhoods are not built but made safe by the people who live there.
He said gated communities may not be that effective in keeping out criminals since criminals can easily penetrate those communities by jumping over a wall or posing as a relative or fast-food delivery personnel.
Carmichael said the level of serious crimes went up from 11,393 reported cases in 2016 to 13,113 in 2017. He said geography no longer governs any community since criminals have the tendency to migrate from one area to the next depending on their needs.
“Some of the cold spots are becoming lukewarm, when Enterprise heats up, they move out.”
Carmichael said while many people may think they are safe in their homes, crime can occur at any place outside the home.
“You stop to buy vegetables, you stop to buy a newspaper, you can be a target any day. It doesn’t matter whether you are in a hot-spot or cold-spot you can become a victim.”
Carmichael said watch groups can work effectively to curb crime by making reports to the law enforcement authorities and are not vigilante groups.
He said watch groups should not confront or question suspects. They do not detain or arrest criminals or put themselves in harm’s way, he said. Carmichael said the reality is that police cannot patrol all areas all the time and may not be
He said members of the community have human intelligence about the people in their neighbourhood and can notice subtle changes in community activity.
Members of the public aired their concerns during the question and answer session.
Rajkumar Krishna Persad said he was upset by the poor turnout at the meeting. Persad suggested that similar meetings be held in collaboration with religious institutions where a more captive audience can be sought.
Alex Roopnarine said he was not happy with Crime Stoppers since it is a post-crime programme that does not prevent crime. Roopnarine said law-abiding citizens should not be asked to curtail their lifestyles since they were paying taxes on everything, while government ministers walk around with bodyguards. Roopnarine said the time has come for law-abiding citizens to get firearms.Greetings also came from Vishnu Charran, the president of the Chaguanas Chamber of
Commerce and Chaguanas Mayor Gopaul Boodhan
SHASTRI BOODAN