00:00 So I'm hopeful that at some point we will have that conversation because the Prime Minister
00:06 remains the head of the National Security Council.
00:09 In his letter he acknowledged to me that he is well aware that Tobago is experiencing
00:14 unprecedented and elevated levels of criminal activity, rather gun violence to be specific.
00:25 And so I think with that acknowledgement I should perhaps hold out a little hope that
00:29 we will have that conversation.
00:32 Chief Secretary Fahli Agustin, as he spoke during a special media conference to treat
00:37 with crime following Wednesday's shooting death of 42-year-old Darren Anthony Siba Minard.
00:44 Mr Agustin said he intends to meet with Assistant Commissioner of Police Carlos Hazel on Monday.
00:50 And I'm afraid we have not always had intelligent policing in this country.
00:55 And I'm saying that without necessarily targeting any police official or leadership within the
01:02 TTPS for the criticism.
01:05 But I feel as though sometimes we don't get a strategic kind of response from the TTPS.
01:13 Mr Agustin said the strategy cannot be just roadblocks.
01:18 He admitted that crime and its effects have hit home as one of his relatives was shot
01:24 in the drive-by shooting in Speyside.
01:26 There was a series of shootings in my home village of Speyside with some of the shooting
01:33 activity happening in the vicinity of my father's house in Lucilleville.
01:38 I even had my cousin that I grew up with in Speyside and who lives on the same parcel
01:43 of land as my father picking up a bullet wound by just sliming on a Friday night by the nines
01:49 in Speyside.
01:50 Agustin said the THE will fight back.
01:53 The Tobago House of Assembly will do the following.
01:57 We will immediately reinstate the Tobago Community Safety Program with the tagline, "When you
02:04 are safe, I am safe."
02:06 The Community Safety Program will be implemented and managed by the Division of Community Development,
02:12 Youth Development and Sport and deliver the following projects.
02:16 One, the mobilizing, organizing and empowering of our communities to collectively and effectively
02:23 participate in the promotion and management of the safety and security of their communities.
02:29 Two, the establishing of community services, support secretariats in all community centers
02:38 and multipurpose facilities.
02:40 The Chief Secretary said the long-awaited THE Police is on the horizon.
02:45 I am happy and pleased to note here that the legal review for the establishment of the
02:51 THE Police has been completed and the path is clear for its implementation.
02:58 Given the current legal construct where the THE has virtually no legal remit over national
03:04 security on the island, my administration is unconditionally committed to working with
03:10 our national law enforcement agencies to effect whatever fixes are necessary to improving
03:17 their functional and operational effectiveness and efficiency.
03:22 He said tenders are out for the long-standing request for vehicular scanners.
03:28 But what he said is lacking is the operationalization of this country's national security apparatus.
03:35 So in that meeting I had with the Minister of National Security, the Port Authority was
03:40 one of those entities in that meeting.
03:42 They assured us that the tender process at that time was already in train for scanners.
03:52 The scanners will be placed at the port in Scarborough because they indicated that they
03:57 don't have the space at the port in Port of Spain for those scanners.
04:02 We're talking about vehicular scanners that can scan you as you drive through so that
04:07 we can manage what comes in through the port.
04:10 Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
04:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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