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CCNTV6
  • 9 months ago
The Acting Police Commissioner is today commending his officers for providing what he called a generally safe Carnival.

However, he acknowledged that two homicides during Carnival left him with a bitter-sweet feeling.

The Acting top cop also spoke about the reduction in homicides as this country continues to be under a State of Emergency.

Juhel Browne reports.
Transcript
00:00Acting Police Commissioner Junior Benjamin said he had a bittersweet
00:03feeling as he led the police services media briefing on Ash Wednesday where
00:08he spoke about the police presence during the two days of the parade of the
00:12bands on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. We had at least two homicides that took
00:18place during the Carnival period and this is where probably that damper
00:24probably comes upon what we did because it was something that again was rather
00:30unfortunate. We want to take the opportunity at this time to first of
00:35all extend condolences to the families. One of those homicides occurred in St.
00:40James on Carnival Tuesday evening. The acting top cop extended condolences on
00:45behalf of the police service to the families of those two murder victims
00:49before reviewing the performance of the police on Carnival Monday and Tuesday
00:54and the weekend leading up to those two mass days. Because of the deployment of
01:00our officers and the fact that they were nearly everywhere in at every corner
01:06these two situations and homicides we can say today that the suspects in both
01:14homicides they were apprehended and they are in the custody of the police. The
01:21Golden Commander for Carnival, Assistant Police Commissioner Richard Smith said a
01:25firearm and a knife related to those homicides were seized and are in the
01:30custody of the police. The acting police commissioner spoke about the murder
01:34statistics this year so far. When we look at our murder statistics to date we have
01:41at least 66 murders compared to 95 in 2024 and 111 in 2023 and therefore these
01:55a 31 percent decrease. Again the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service we take
02:00absolutely no great satisfaction because we understand very clearly that crime is
02:08not static and it's very dynamic it can change however we want you to know that
02:15we continue in the midst of an SOE still seeking to ensure that the citizens of
02:22Trinidad and Tobago are well taken care of. A reference to the state of emergency in
02:27effect that does not include a curfew and does not have any restrictions on
02:31public gatherings such as the Carnival Fets or the Parade of the Bands on
02:36Carnival Monday and Tuesday. We have a general overview that the Carnival was
02:42generally a safe one and for this we want to take the opportunity to first
02:50and foremost thank all our police officers for really turning up and
02:55ensuring that we are able to at least be outside there and create that level of
03:02safety and security. The Acting Top Cop also thanked the public for the
03:07assistance. Jule Brown TV6 News
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