Murder toll hits 450 in T&T

Murder toll hits 450 in T&T


Jensen La Vende
Published: Guardian
Saturday, December 24, 2016

Relatives of Sean Thomas console each other near the scene of his murder on Queen Street, Port-of-Spain yesterday. PHOTO: (KERWIN PIERRE)
The brazenness of the country’s killers went to the extreme in two separate murders that took the toll to 450 for the year between Thursday night and yesterday morning.

The murders took place in Morvant and Port-of-Spain and both with complete disregard to the fact police were nearby.

In the most recent case, Sean Thomas, 33, of Francis Road, San Juan, was shot dead along Queen Street, Port-of-Spain as two police jeeps were on patrol.

According to eyewitnesses reports, a gunman opened fire on the silver Toyota car Thomas was driving along Queen Street, between Nelson and George Streets, around 10 am. Witnesses said the gunman was unmasked and a marked police jeep was about five car lengths away in the front, with a police jeep two car lengths behind Thomas’ car. An off-duty police officer working in a nearby jewelry shop heard the gunshots and opened fire on the killer, but only hit another car in the process.

Despite being virtually surrounded and engaged by police seconds after the attack, the killer escaped by running through the nearby plannings. Up to yesterday no arrests had been made. But police said the incident was recorded on close circuit cameras and they expect to make an arrest soon.

Police said they believed Thomas was killed following a robbery, but they are also working on the theory it could be linked to a gun attack last year which he survived.

Shoppers stopped and gawked as relatives of the deceased arrived at the scene, having been alerted of the murder via photos on social media. His relatives were too distraught to speak at the scene.

As the relatives awaited the removal of his body, those gathered were overheard lamenting at the “dark days” of the country. One woman who sells along Queen Street, near to where the killing took place, said she had sons and warned them about wearing jewelry in Port-of-Spain, since it is believed he may have been killed for his gold chain. Other people chastised the police for failing to apprehend the killer while others said Thomas should not have fought with the bandit.

In the second incident on Thursday night, four gunmen shot and killed a US deportee along Flamingo Street, Morvant, just behind the Morvant Police Station. Police said the deceased, Akeem Jordan, 37, was known to be involved in criminal activity.

According to reports, the killers pulled up in a Nissan Almera and opened fire on Jordan and sped off. Officers ran to the scene but by the time they arrived the killers had already escaped. Police said Jordan told them he knew his attackers but died before he could give a name. He was shot nine times, his autopsy revealed.

Mapoui will come and complain this should not be on the Forum. >

Be careful out there
AKILAH HOLDER Saturday, December 24 2016

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE.

That was the warning yesterday given to a crime-weary nation by Acting Commissioner of Police at a police briefing. He reiterated an earlier call by the TTPS for citizens to be vigilant at this time of year, when doing their Christmas shopping. He also revealed that the TTPS is in the final stage of a new three year strategic plan, though he didn’t reveal the details of that plan.

“We are asking the members of the public to be careful out there.

There are persons who are set, just as a police officer goes out to work, there are individuals who are set on going out to work in committing crime. Persons will be seeking to target shoppers out there as it relates to larceny and robberies and we are really asking members of the public to be conscious, conscious as you go out in the various shopping locations to make yourselves what we call hard targets. We are seeing reports over this week where people are not considering some of the key tips that we’ve had throughout the year, such as simple things.

Commissioner Williams gave an example. “You go to the bank, you make a large withdrawal of cash. You go the vehicle, you put it into the glove compartment and you go back into a mall and shop.

Persons are monitoring you. Persons will in fact, break your vehicle and steal the money. We have those incidents continuing to take place as recent as yesterday at one of the malls. We share with the members of the public that if you are business men and women, you have large deposits to make at the bank, please do not go to the bank alone.” He said businessmen should share the information with the police and officers will provide support and a level of protection to ensure that the businessman can get to the bank and make their deposits safely. Same thing goes by way of having to pay, by way of payroll, he said. “We generally focus at this point in time to do everything possible from a policing perspective to make the place safe.” The top cop repeated that there will be an increased presence of police officers in all key shopping areas, including Port-of-Spain, San Fernando, Arima and all shopping malls especially today - the final shopping day before Christmas.

Williams noted that 2016 was a “reasonably good year” for the TTPS and a year which saw greater support from the media as evidence in more positive stories about the work of the TTPS, and an increased level of cooperation from citizens of the Trinidad and Tobago.

As a result of the increased cooperation with the public, Williams said, the crime detection rate of the TTPS has improved.

With regard to policing strategies for the coming year, Williams said, “We are putting things in place from day one January 1, 2017 to focus on the violent crime in Trinidad and Tobago.

While we see in some instances reduction in crime types, we have a situation of an increase in murders in 2016 compared to 2015.

Overall though, we have seen a small reduction in violent crime in Trinidad and Tobago.” But that slight decrease is not enough.

“What we need to see is a significant drop in the levels of violence in Trinidad and Tobago so that the public can be conscious of the change that is taking place in the context of safety and security.

That is what will be our focus from day one, January 2017... We are just in the completion stage for a new strategic plan for a three year cycle which will run 2017 to 2019.” Calling 2016 a reasonably successful year for the TTPS, Williams said that there has been a two percent decrease overall in shootings, woundings and murders, a one percent reduction in serious crimes generally; three percent reduction in rapes and other sex related offences; a 34 percent reduction in kidnappings; a 19 percent reduction in larceny of motor vehicles and a ten percent reduction in road death.

When questioned about whether or not he felt David West, head of the Police Complaints Authority should resign, he said he didn’t think he should comment on his resignation, but that West has made irresponsible utterances.