00:00Last weekend, a 16-year-old boy was stabbed at the C3 mall. A 73-year-old
00:06woman was beaten and robbed at Movietown in Port of Spain and at Trincity Mall
00:10there were several reports of fights and robberies at the shopping complex. These
00:14incidents will no longer be allowed to happen according to the TTPS and today
00:19we discussed that especially looking at Trincity Mall, looking at all the
00:22different malls, where we're going to be, what we're going to be doing, having more
00:26presence there so that we could deal with those situations. However, Benjamin
00:29noted that these operations will not just be limited to malls and shopping
00:33complexes but will be extended throughout communities and city areas as
00:37the Christmas season fast approaches. We are putting the necessary things in
00:42place to have the manpower, the human resource, all the things that are needed
00:45to ensure a safer and better Christmas season so persons could feel free and
00:51feel safe traveling and traversing the streets. He also called on parents and
00:56guardians to ensure that their children are positively engaged throughout the
01:00Christmas season and even urged them to join police youth clubs. We believe it's
01:05part of our crime prevention plan. We believe if we can really speak to the
01:09youth, we are saving a generation so therefore we would encourage all
01:14parents to get their children involved in, you know, all youth clubs, all youth clubs.
01:19Finally, Benjamin also addressed this year's murder toll which stands at 565
01:26as of this morning. While it was higher than the comparative for the same period
01:30last year, which was 533, the DCP noted that over the last two months the
01:35average has dropped from 50 a month to 30 a month. We have been looking at that
01:40situation, what we have been doing and what you see here is really from the
01:45beginning of the year we have been putting different strategies in place
01:47and we believe that we're getting that traction now. He promised that there
01:51would be more police presence on the ground in the coming weeks and that the
01:54TTPS will be continuing to focus on intelligence-led policing and community
01:59relation. We're going out, parking the cars, doing some walking, talking more with the
02:04people. If you look around, you see, you go to the divisions, we are doing more walkabouts
02:09and so on, talking with the people. So we are building that engagement and that is
02:13what I believe is also helping to really create that closer ties between the
02:18police and the public. Alexander Brucewall, TV6 News.
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