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  • 1 year ago
With a wave of reckless crimes washing over the country, criminologist Daurius Figueira is calling on the government to put provisions in the budget, for the reform of the entire national security framework. Key to this reform, Figueira says, is the weaponising of Customs & Excise and Immigration, to give them greater teeth to secure our borders. Rynessa Cutting reports.

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00:00With the country having recorded 470 murders for the year thus far, many are looking to
00:06the upcoming budget presentation to see what plans are in place to address the crime situation.
00:13Criminologist Darius Figueroa believes the introduction of another transnational crime
00:18entity has aggravated the crime situation, resulting in the reckless acts of violence
00:23we see today.
00:25In Trinidad and Tobago today, we have four different expressions of gangland.
00:32You have those who are affiliated with the Colombians, those who are affiliated with
00:35the Mexicans.
00:37You have one grouping who is holding on to whatever they could get from the Colombians.
00:44And then you have a huge grouping of persons who are displaced.
00:50They belong to none of the above.
00:52And a lot of the spontaneous, reckless violence is coming out of this dispossessed group.
01:01So therefore you have to understand what is transnational organized crime and how it operates
01:06in Trinidad and Tobago.
01:07But presently, we are living in a society in denial.
01:12All we speak about is gangs.
01:15And although national security usually attracts a large sum of the fiscal pie, Figueroa believes
01:21widespread reform of the national security apparatus is what is needed for a meaningful
01:27change.
01:28For the TTPS, you have serious reform because we are still not touching the four horsemen
01:35of the TTP apocalypse.
01:37The issue of promotion, the issue of internal discipline, the issue of command and control,
01:44and the issue of organized crime within the TTPS.
01:48Figueroa is also calling for an armed unit of Customs and Excise and Immigration.
01:54That are specifically trained and operationalized for enforcement, where they will use the extensive
02:04powers they have under law to protect our borders.
02:09Customs and Excise and Immigration have more power over our borders than the TTPS.
02:16So they must be weaponized, they must have an enforcement arm of both of them.
02:22In fact, both of them are supposed to be joined together.
02:26The criminologist further notes with concern that all of the Coast Guard's large operational
02:32vessels are currently out of service.
02:35With the Coast Guard, you have a serious problem with your equipment, your ships of the line.
02:42Right now, we have not a single ship of the line in the water.
02:46So that's serious questions to be asked.
02:48Do you think that that is by chance?
02:51Well, if it is deliberate, that means the Coast Guard then has to be disbanded and rebuilt
02:59from the ground.
03:00Last year, National Security received the third largest budget allocation, at just over
03:06$6.9 billion.
03:08Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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