5,600 arrested for serious crimes, police urge victims to come forward

ACP Richard Smith -

WHAT the general population may not know is that for this year already, over 5,000 people have been arrested for serious crimes.

What the public already knows, through repeated pleas, is that the police service needs greater co-operation and more involvement from people in the fight against crime and criminality.

How the public can help? By giving information, attending identification parades and partnering with the TTPS.

In fact, faced with a lack of co-operation from the public, police have resorted to inventive ways to ensure victims feel safe when participating in ID parades, including allowing them to wear a full hazmat suits and a face mask to maintain their anonymity.

This was revealed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Richard Smith at a cottage meeting on September 18 at the Tunapuna Hindu Primary School.

Smith, who was the Senior Superintent responsible for North Central Division for the past year, was among 13 senior officers promoted last week. He is now responsible for administration in the TTPS.

Smith said the police have been working hard to make the country safer.

“Every single day we are arresting criminals. So far, 5,600 people have been arrested for serious crimes. Imagine that! Five thousand six hundred members of the population get locked up already and still people are saying the police ent doing nothing!

“What if we weren't doing anything? What if we weren't going on patrols? What if we didn’t arrest any of these 5,600 people? What would have been happening in this country,” he asked.

He said the police’s hard work sometimes go in vain when the public refuse to make reports or identify the criminals.

“When we arrest these people, we want support from the public because we need evidence to charge. If we don't have that, we can't go anywhere with the matter. The cases will be dismissed. They (criminals) will come outside and continue perpetrating all these crimes.”

Smith said the failure of victims to appear in court is also an issue police have to deal with.

“When people don't turn up in court that is problems, because they (criminals) come back out. That’s why I think we have so much repeat offenders. They get charged, win the case and come back out and do it again and again and again, because there are no consequences. People are afraid of the court.”

Smith said if the public takes a stand and do their part in the judicial process, criminals will think twice about committing crimes.

“If we say, ‘enough is enough, we’re going after them and we’re going to give our evidence,’ these fellas will fold up and run, you know.

"But too many people are backing out. We could only do as much as we could do. We can arrest, we can charge. But then when it's evidence time, people are not coming.”

He said there is no need for people to be scared about testifying as there are mechanisms in the courts to protect their identity.

Also at the meeting, residents were shown the latest tool in the TTPS’s arsenal to fight crime.

The Eagle Eye project was initially launched in Tunapuna and Smith boasted it has seen "huge results" with that area having the highest detective rate for murders in the country and also the largest reduction in murders.

The project has been rolled out in communities throughout country with almost 400 CCTV cameras being installed.

For a nominal fee, residents on any street can have cameras installed. These cameras are directly linked to the nearest police station.

The cameras are equipped with strobe lights and other security measures which residents can activate with a remote or through a phone app, if a crime is in progress.

Once this is activate it, a Whatsapp message is sent to the neighbourhood crime watch group chat and the police are also immediately informed.

Officers at the station’s command room can then view the live feeds via the cameras to get all critical information needed.

Insp Beepot of the Tunapuna police station assured residents these cameras will not be used to “macco” them but rather to aid in the fight against crime and improve the level of service given to the public.

“The concept of the eagle eye is to give us a little edge. We have the monitors in the station. If something happens, we can retrieve the footage and carry our investigation to a further level," Beepot said