00:00CTO director Alan McGill is reporting a 10 to 15 percent increase in trafficking
00:06in persons prosecutions.
00:09In comparison with last year, we have increased our rate of prosecution, that I am sure.
00:14A percentage of it?
00:16Well, a percentage of it, but it's a comparative.
00:2010 percent more, 20 percent more than last year?
00:22I would say between 10 and 15 percent more than the previous year.
00:26He says his unit is intent on bringing all suspects to face the brunt of the law,
00:31even if they are law enforcement officers.
00:34It is always difficult when people who are paid and expected to uphold the law,
00:39we ought to hold them to a higher standard.
00:42And if it is that they were to reduce themselves to involving crime,
00:46especially a crime like trafficking in persons, then, you know, they bring shame to the organization.
00:51Speaking with reporters at a seminar in recognition of human rights,
00:55say he has a wish list for the unit to do its job more efficiently.
00:59The number of reports we have to do, I mean, if we don't have the administrative support,
01:04then the director and the deputy director have to boot themselves to the chair and get those things done.
01:09So that is just one aspect of it.
01:11Of course, we would love to have some more investigators.
01:13Of course, we would like to improve our intelligence and investigative capacity.
01:19Victim care, we need law enforcement officers assisting victim care.
01:24So it's a number of things. We are fledgling. We are getting there.
01:27But we need to build that capacity, especially in our human resource.
01:31Migrants, he says, are often the victims of trafficking in TNT.
01:35We cannot discount, of course, and if I do, the migration from South America to Trinidad.
01:42So Trinidad is both a destination and a transit country.
01:47So with the political and economic upheavals in Venezuela, it has created a migrant group.
01:55The director says efforts are being made to better equip the audiovisual unit
02:00to ensure video evidence meets court standards for admissibility.
02:05He reports an improvement in shelter facilities and also says
02:09the traditional reliance on international partners in this effort has decreased.
02:13Now, we have encouraged the government to play its part in developing shelter stocks.
02:22And I must admit that within recent times, we have had some success.
02:28Because at present, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development,
02:33they gave me a task to investigate the investment of 10 shelters
02:38or a compound with 10 shelters to find out how can we bring it under the Ministry of National Security.
02:44And we are progressing with that. And the hope is that we can have a secure compound.
02:49Yes, where we can have witnesses properly protected.
02:53Arvashi Tewari, Ruben Arain, TV6 News.
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