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00:00Parents strongly cautioned, this program contains some material that is unsuitable for young children.
00:30Beyond the Tape, we'll be back after these messages.
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03:08Welcome to Beyond the Tape.
03:11I'm your host, Mark Bassand.
03:12I want to welcome our viewers across Trinidad and Tobago and our global viewers.
03:18And of course, our brothers and sisters in the Isle of Grenada.
03:22It's certainly a very wet Tuesday and we expected to experience this type of rainfall tonight into tomorrow as well.
03:30So we want to urge all those persons who are using the nation's roadways to be extremely careful.
03:35And we had a couple of, you know, landslips and along the North Coast Road in the Damien Bay area this morning, some trees collapsed.
03:45And of course, you know, there was some quick work there by the various authorities to come and remove those trees.
03:53And then there was, I understand that some phone lines were also cut.
03:57However, the P-Mobile, I believe, it was, they came quickly to the area and restored that service as well to the persons in and around that area.
04:09But as we continue for the next 24 hours, we again want to be very cautious.
04:15And I know there's a lot of things put in place to mitigate any circumstances going forward.
04:21And today with us is Acting ASP, Leith Jones of the Northern Division.
04:28And I want to welcome you, sir. How are you?
04:30Thank you very much, Mr. Basant. I'm doing quite fine. I'm quite all right.
04:34It's a pleasure to be here.
04:35Right. Thanks so much for coming.
04:37And I know just about a week ago, there was the community policing initiative in the Larry Treat area in Arima.
04:47And, of course, if you're familiar, within the last couple of months, within the last two years, I would say gang violence has read as ugly head in that community.
04:56We had this sad passing of at least four children, I believe, the Peterkin family.
05:01Yes, yes.
05:02And following that, there were a couple other homicides connected to that gang warfare and gang violence in the area that has really pushed people into a sense of fear in that community.
05:13And, of course, you know, it's a very, you know, it's one of those very depressed communities.
05:19Yes.
05:20So, on the backdrop of those incidents, the Northern Division, North, that's the division in particular where I represent and where I'm attached to.
05:31And that's where Larry Treat community falls within.
05:36The community policing, community relations, together with multi-agency approach was taken towards targeting the issues in that community.
05:44And we saw a culmination of it recently where on the 31st of May, I believe it was, we had the Larry Treat caravan, which we saw numbers, the persons in the community came out in their numbers, large numbers of persons came out.
06:01So, I understand prior to that, the children would not even engage with the police officers when they come to the community.
06:07The people would not engage the residents, would not be for community information.
06:10And since then, we have what we term crime prevention through environmental design.
06:20So, an area was identified in the community where the police and other stakeholders basically set up shop.
06:27And we reached out.
06:28There were increased patrols.
06:30There were walkabouts in the community.
06:32There were engagement with persons on a one-on basis.
06:35Persons who had even psychosocial needs.
06:37Those needs were met to a certain extent.
06:40And when we saw that event coming off last, I think the last two Saturdays, or the 31st.
06:47The 31st.
06:48Yes.
06:48A week or two ago.
06:51It was, I'm able to see, be thrown out.
06:55What it was like.
06:55There was engagement.
06:56I mean, we had the police band who was there.
06:58There were songs played.
07:00There were engagements with various other stakeholders like the Vietnam Witness Support Community.
07:04Right.
07:05Unitary, there were social services provided.
07:09We had various, the impact was a multifaceted one as well.
07:15It led to multiple seizures of firearms in the community.
07:18We saw an increased community partnership with the police.
07:22Posters are now more willing to come forward and bring information.
07:25All these are confidential.
07:27Yes.
07:27It is very, very important to know that, albeit it's confidential, and we are working towards maintaining those relationships that have been built over time.
07:37The work is still ongoing.
07:39I received some information just before I came here that there are two quarry operators who operate legal quarries, not too far away.
07:49They have pledged their support towards providing some type of signage for the community as well.
07:54So, we are looking forward to see how that will pan out.
07:58But the community engagement and the partnership with the residents and even the businesses, the government services as well, have provided extreme support for us so that we can get this program and this initiative off the ground and towards a sense of completion.
08:13So, the greater value out of it, I would say, is more so for the children because the community, in my opinion, will take a while before they emerge from the traumas of that incident where the Pitekin family was devastated.
08:28And it will remain with them for a very long time.
08:31And I think it is very useful for us to continue that work in that community and likewise many others.
08:36So, while we are wrapping up our initiative there, we are looking towards shifting to other areas of the Northern Division where we can have similar activities in the community where we can identify areas.
08:50It may be a piece of property, for example, where criminals are habitually carrying out the activities.
08:58We can engage stakeholders.
08:59We can have cleanup efforts.
09:00We work together even with the Arima Borough Corporation as well.
09:03We have the utility services.
09:06They are on board to assist us.
09:08The outcome is always a tremendous one.
09:11We can't put a dollar value to it because it is lives we are impacting.
09:14But the impact, I think, will reverberate for a very long time shortly to the community and the nation.
09:20How difficult would you say in interacting with people there on that particular day was it for them to open up to the police officers?
09:29And secondly, what were some of the major concerns, separate and apart, of course, from the gang violence that has gripped that community over the last year or two?
09:44What other things were raised, if you can give us an idea?
09:48What other things?
09:49Apart from that concern of gang violence, other things that they would like the police to get engaged in and be actively involved in trying to mitigate problems?
09:58I think an initiative that would be very useful for a community like that, and if I'm not mistaken, there may be something in the works that I have to verify.
10:08Yes.
10:08But that community can benefit tremendously from what we would call a homework center as well.
10:12Because while we have this short-term intervention, we want something that is more long-lasting.
10:19And where we can steer the minds of the young people away from the activities of the community, we are still working towards the reality in a general sense.
10:28Yes.
10:28It has been suppressed greatly.
10:29But to have that emphasis placed now where we can develop the children, develop the younger ones, establish a very active police youth clubs and other groups.
10:41So rather than just the police service carry the weight of the community, you can have the community carry the weight of its own self.
10:47Basically, so the drive is to make the community more sustainable.
10:49If I'm aiming to say somewhat self-sufficient, because there may be avenues even for business to emerge from the community.
10:58So because we have persons here who we can bring skills to through the various state-run programs, where persons cannot come out of the community, for example, because of the gang situation.
11:08We can take the services to them and we can help develop that entrepreneurial mindset, develop that education base for the children so that real value can be placed on taking your lives towards a positive destination rather than just you grow up in a community.
11:24And your only understanding of the world is in the borders of that community where you are forced to reside because of the situation.
11:30So as we speak, we are continuing to treat itself the gangs and the gang activity in the community.
11:38It has been tremendously suppressed.
11:40And I think it is working towards its eradication.
11:43That will take some time in the process of things.
11:48However, where we can have that impact with the little ones?
11:52And I think this is where we can even extend ourselves to engage the faith-based organizations.
11:57Because as I speak here, I'm a person who I stand firmly on my religious belief and my faith.
12:05And it is something I have seen the public sometimes don't want to hear because of past situations.
12:11But it has been proven when a man or a woman converts, that issue of the life of crime is eradicated almost immediately.
12:20So it brings about a transformation of the mind where you have that transformation of the will and the spirit and so on.
12:27So we cannot just design programs in the physical sense.
12:31But it can cause persons now to gravitate towards a way of life where they can have some meaningfulness in their life and some purpose.
12:37I think we'll see a greater result.
12:39So the work is also on going with faith-based organizations to get them into the community to help them with their evangelistic initiatives as well.
12:45And where there's a need, the police is always there from the Northern Division North to help them take things forward.
12:51All right. Some good news there in the Northern Division.
12:54We're going to take a look now at our headlines.
12:56We're going to take a look now.
13:17So those are some of the headlines within the last 24 hours.
13:29And, of course, ASP Jones, we talk about the homicide rate
13:34and trying to suppress the homicide rate.
13:37It's now at 171, apparently.
13:41A man was shot at the Raghu Street in the Blue Basin area last night in Dago Martin.
13:46He was identified as Samuel Johnson.
13:49He was attending a week and he was shot there and he succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
13:58So, you know, it's even in a public space where the morning of the death of someone
14:03that gunman would come up onto the week and open fire.
14:06Yes.
14:10I've seen, and this is available, where in those communities where we have death
14:18and, you know, we have had the history where murders took place
14:22and when the week is happening, even more murders take place.
14:25Yes.
14:26Those persons in the community can reach out to the police
14:28if there's a concern for their safety.
14:32We can provide increased patrols and, to some extent, we can improve our presence
14:37because the push is really not for us to just record the crimes.
14:42You know, we want to prevent the crimes.
14:44Yeah.
14:44And if we think it may be a situation that is just ripe for additional murders to happen,
14:50we don't want the murder rate to continue going up.
14:53It is unfortunate that the gentleman lost his life.
14:54But I know that the homicide, Region 1, is continuing their initiative,
15:01their efforts towards solving every murder.
15:04Likewise, the homicide in its general sense.
15:06That is the place where I spent 16 years of my policing life
15:09and I hold it very dear to me.
15:11Yes.
15:11And I know the hardship that the officers work on and the challenges, the struggles,
15:15but notwithstanding all of that, they persevere.
15:18Yeah.
15:18And as we are on that, you know, they will continue to work towards identifying every avenue
15:24to solve the murders.
15:27And as we are at it, we can, I would like to appeal to the public that they can,
15:32anyone who has information, feel free to call.
15:35Yeah, we have the 555, we have the 800 tips.
15:39Crime stoppers.
15:39Crime stoppers.
15:40Yeah.
15:42Feel free to reach out to us.
15:44Every bit of information is valuable.
15:47Yeah.
15:47What you may think is not useful, it may be very useful as a piece of the puzzle
15:50that we can put together towards bringing closure to one of those homicides.
15:54Yeah.
15:54And certainly we also had shown you a shooting in the Blanchishers area yesterday morning.
16:01And it's unfortunate that that gentleman, his name was Junior Lee Kwai,
16:06he was identified later as a supervisor attached to the Water and Sewage Authority.
16:13And from my understanding, he was working in that area.
16:15And according to the police report, a gunman was laying in wait for him.
16:20So he certainly would, obviously, I know as time goes along,
16:23we will be able to get a better understanding of the motive for that really senseless killing.
16:28Certainly.
16:29Yes.
16:29And, of course, we talked about road conditions and we currently have adverse weather with us.
16:37And this morning around 3.30 in the Trinity area in the vicinity of the water treatment plant,
16:43there was an accident on the highway.
16:45So, definitely, we want to implore persons who are using the nation's roadways,
16:52please, please be careful on the roads.
16:55Slow down when you're driving on wet roads, when visibility is poor,
17:01if your tires are not in proper condition and you need to change them,
17:06don't wait until six months after the fact.
17:09That's right.
17:09But visibility is obviously a big issue when rain is falling out.
17:14And now we're in the rainy season, definitely something for people to look at.
17:18And, you know, a few days ago, we had that double fatal in the Arima district.
17:24Yes.
17:24And that bit of stretch linking us to the Valencia area.
17:27Yes, a couple died.
17:28Where the mother and the father of those six children lost their lives in a very tragic manner.
17:34It is still uncertain what caused the accident.
17:37Yeah.
17:37We know sometime overnight there was some bit of rainfall,
17:41but we are still uncertain if that contributed.
17:43Yes.
17:43But that area has been identified recently as an area that is prone to accidents.
17:50At night it's very difficult, as there's limited lights along that bit of roadway.
17:55And there's limited road markings as well.
17:59So it's an opportunity for us to correct those shortcomings, I think, by the relevant entities.
18:05So we can have persons being able to more confident when they travel to those areas.
18:11All right.
18:12So that's just the accident here we're looking at from this morning.
18:15God alone knows how he reached there.
18:18And I would imagine that some semblance of speed coming off way off the road into that waterway there.
18:27All right.
18:27We're going to take a short break and we'll be back.
18:30Stay with us.
18:30We're going to take a short break and we'll be back.
19:00We're going to take a short break.
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21:02Welcome back to Beyond the Tape.
21:16I'm your host, Mark Gossand.
21:17Of course, joined today by acting ASP, Lith Jones of the Northern Division.
21:22And quite disappointingly, we continue to speak about school fights, school bullying.
21:29And of course, this video was sent to us earlier on today.
21:34Apparently, a young woman attacked by three other students.
21:40This, apparently, in the central area.
21:43And my understanding is that the student that was attacked by several other girls had to be taken to the hospital.
21:52At least six children are involved there in that beating and stomping of that victim lying on the ground.
21:59They are trying to obviously shield the blows from these children.
22:04And my understanding is that she is now in hospital.
22:08I'm not seeing as to the degree of her injuries.
22:14You see, you had some adults coming in there a little later on trying to intervene.
22:19But the rainfall, it could have been maybe earlier today or it could have been yesterday.
22:24But it's certainly very recent.
22:26It was brought to our attention.
22:28And I understand the mother of the victim is very distraught by this entire incident.
22:33And I suppose would, at some point, be speaking to the media.
22:38Yes.
22:39It's very troubling seeing this, Mr. Basant.
22:41Very troubling.
22:44But I read something online a little while ago.
22:48And it seems as though, on the heels of the Prime Minister making her utterances,
22:56pertaining to the remedy or the attempt to correct this type of behavior,
23:00they are very well understanding of it.
23:03So, we have young ladies from a particular school who changed, apparently, they changed their clothes.
23:08So, they are out of school uniform.
23:09Yeah.
23:10And then they went about the violent acts.
23:13And I've been looking at these type of activities.
23:15And I don't know if I may be making an accurate assessment.
23:23But, you know, when we look at gang activity and the definition of gang activity,
23:30and, you know, it speaks to whatever it is, a formal or informal activity by two or more persons.
23:36Yeah.
23:37Should we now begin to classify this type of behavior as gang activity?
23:42Interesting question.
23:42Because some of these incidents may lead to serious injury or even death.
23:48And if the intention that they have set up with is to cause a person's tremendous injury to their body, to their person,
23:56then maybe we have to step up the game a little bit.
23:59Well, you raise a very interesting point.
24:01And I think my producer, when we go out for Voice of the People in the last edition,
24:07one of the things that we were asking was that when is it a good time or good age, rather,
24:15to try someone for crime as an adult?
24:18And, of course, we had some interesting answers.
24:21People said 14.
24:23People said 16.
24:24Because if you are capable of inflicting that kind of violence at an age of 12, 13, 14,
24:32you know what you're doing where somebody might be killed or maimed for life.
24:38Yes.
24:40Certainly, it's something that, as you said, we have to look at going forward
24:44because you have to be accountable for your actions at a time where,
24:49especially if you have enough common sense to know what you are doing.
24:52That's right.
24:53That's right.
24:53And the proliferation of this type of activity that we saw started with the boys
24:59and is now very frequently we see the girls and artists.
25:02Yes.
25:02In the last two of the other incidents before, the girl was beaten at the school in Porto.
25:09It's been a couple of years ago.
25:10And her father actually spoke with the Sunday Express talking about this feud leaked
25:16from an indifference on social media with his former daughter.
25:22And there's some type of relation as well, too, with the girls.
25:24Yeah.
25:24Yeah.
25:25Yeah.
25:25So it suggests that something's not working.
25:29Something's not working to have that deterrent effect sufficient enough
25:33to cope with that type of behavior.
25:35And I would like to say that we are just always in some things, our approaches.
25:42Yeah.
25:42And it may mean that what the premise has indicated may be...
25:48Might be somewhat of a harsh remedy.
25:50But it may be what is needed.
25:52Yeah.
25:52And I think we have another school fight as well.
25:55And it's becoming so, look at this, it's becoming so prevalent now that we're actually highlighting
26:01these things in the classrooms, outside the classrooms, nearly every other day on this
26:07program.
26:08And it's very disheartening to see young persons.
26:11I mean, we don't know what's going on in the minds of some of them.
26:16I don't know if they're getting any proper guidance at home, or if they are in some way misguided
26:22by others, even though they have teachers, they have a youth club, or their parents speaking to them.
26:29Well, Mr. Bassan, what I have found throughout my career as a police officer, and this is
26:33something I said to someone just about two days ago, where a child doesn't have respect
26:40for authority in the household, you don't respect parents or your extended family and so on,
26:47you will never have respect for anyone else beyond the household.
26:49Yeah.
26:50And the only authoritative intervention that you will have, it will end up being with the
26:55police.
26:57And I know that the Children's Court, and the coming out of that juvenile court project,
27:03there's a tremendous amount of work that is happening behind the scenes.
27:06It happens through the courts, together with Children's Authority as well.
27:09I have been part of some of those hearings when I was then at the Special Victims Department.
27:15And I think we need some more investment by the state, if I may say, in some of these facilities.
27:24Yeah.
27:25Because it is very clear that we cannot allow these young people into the school population
27:32to continue to be disruptive.
27:34You know, and I believe in returns on investment, right?
27:39Yeah.
27:39So we have the state carry the burden of what we call free education.
27:42But then we have persons who are interrupting that flow of education for those who want it.
27:47And I think this is useful for us, and this is necessary for us to remove them from that
27:51space.
27:52Mayor suspension is not enough.
27:54And place them before another authority where they can be properly managed.
27:57And there should be some amendments, I believe, to the law where these things occur.
28:03It should be automatic.
28:05You are not placed before the court for the management.
28:08You know?
28:09All right.
28:10Well said.
28:10Yes, P.
28:11And, you know, it's a conversation we can carry on for the rest of the afternoon.
28:15All right.
28:15We're going to take a short break, and we'll be back.
28:17Stay with us.
28:18We'll be back.
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30:18Welcome back to Beyond the Tape.
30:33I'm your host, Mark Bussan, joined today by ASP Leith Jones of the Northern Division.
30:39Just want to remind you of the numbers.
30:40Call 623-1711, Extensions 1996 and 1997.
30:47And we're going to show you a very disturbing video.
30:50Of course, we're talking about road safety.
30:52We're talking about being observant on the nation's roadways.
30:56And certainly, this hit and run is very disheartening to see a grandmother and her daughter
31:03apparently crossing the road in the Penile Rock Road area.
31:08And this is what happens.
31:16So, they're closing.
31:17They're looking around and then a van.
31:20Oh.
31:21Are they both of them struck?
31:22Oh, my God.
31:23Both individuals are struck.
31:25Wow.
31:26Unfortunately, the grandmother, Polly Rampasad, died.
31:32And I believe the daughter is in hospital, Crystal.
31:40Mark, I mean, looking at that video, it is disturbing, to say the least.
31:46The pedestrians did not appear to have on dark colored clothing.
31:51And it was well lit to the road?
31:52And the road appeared to be well lit.
31:54So, it suggests something else may have been at play in the mind of that driver.
31:59If his mind was functioning well at all.
32:01Because we don't know if he may have been under the influence.
32:03We don't know if he may have, he may not have had his documents in order or at all.
32:09You know, so, I think while that matter has been investigated.
32:13He didn't even stop.
32:16He didn't stop.
32:18And, I mean, as we are at that, I would like to make an appeal to the public that anyone who has information pertaining to this incident in the penal district to call the penal police.
32:28I believe the number is 647-8888.
32:31We have 999.
32:32We have crime stoppers.
32:33Well, Gasper Lewis, oh, the penal is 647.
32:36Yes.
32:37I'm sorry.
32:37You know, we have all our hotlines.
32:40You all, the general public, I'm appealing to you to make use of those numbers.
32:44Because this life must not go in vain.
32:48Yes.
32:49And it is troubling me, Mr. Bassant, where I'm following the convention on social media since the announcement of the removing of the merit points.
33:01And it seems to be almost a celebration taking place where persons are of the view that all they need to do now is just pay a ticket.
33:07There's no consequence for their behavior on the roadway.
33:11And, I mean, it is of great concern to us.
33:16And I think that there should be some other measure in place that we can utilize beyond just issuing of fixed penalty notices.
33:24Because, you know, in terms like this, for example, if it is determined that this driver was under the influence, for example, we know the effect that the points would have towards him keeping his point for a certain period of time.
33:38One that is taken away all together and not replaced with anything else.
33:41I think we are allowing society to continue on a path of lawlessness that we are working hard towards curbing.
33:50You know, so it's something that we should look at.
33:52Yes, I agree with you.
33:54And, of course, before we go on, we wanted to listen to the Kemraj Rampasad, the grandson of Polly Rampasad, who was struck and killed, speaking to the Express's Dexter Phillip earlier today at their penal home.
34:09She had one of her family members died because she was going to hand her address to go to the funeral.
34:17We were about 550.
34:21She had no office phones around half past seven years ago.
34:24I realized the funeral phones.
34:28And about 7.45, somebody comes in front here and was calling, calling.
34:33And they tell my mother, my grandmother, they bump her the road, and they were going to pass out.
34:40And a music player, and a former neighbor, because they had her body covered up, and they said she passed, and my mother was on the side of the room.
34:50She had some bridges on her foot, like, coming up in the spring, and things like that.
34:57The driver didn't stay long, like, the brown itself, on the bonnet.
35:04You can see how fast we were driving the sink, and she barely kind of pitched for the impact, from the way he saw an idea.
35:13The front date, my mother, I said, I'm sure I was crossing from, from, from, from, from, from, from the area, correct, yeah.
35:21They had my mother's speed and, keep your eyes on the road.
35:24Certainly, you know, it's very difficult, you know, grandson, getting that kind of news.
35:32And the trauma is evident.
35:33Yes, certainly.
35:34And I want to encourage that driver to turn himself in.
35:38Yes, certainly.
35:39It's the best thing, and the only thing you should be doing at this point.
35:42Because you struck two human beings, and you continued along your merry way, without stopping to render any kind of assistance or help.
35:50Whether or not it's inconsequential, if they were right or wrong, I think it's important for any driver to stop and render aid.
35:59Well, Mr. Bassan, generally speaking, pedestrians usually have right of way.
36:06Yes.
36:07Generally speaking.
36:08And, um, I mean, there are those instances where, um, coming out of an investigation, it may be deemed otherwise.
36:14Yeah.
36:15But, um, in a, in a case like this where we are seen on video, here we have persons crossing the roadway where nothing was.
36:22Yeah, we didn't see anything.
36:23And then out of nowhere came this vehicle that appeared to be at a particular rate of speed.
36:29Yeah.
36:29Taking the life of this grandmother.
36:30Well, it's very disheartening to see such, I mean, uh, okay, we have our first caller on the line.
36:38Caller, good evening.
36:40Good evening, good evening, Mr. Bassan, and to the officer, that's what we're talking about today.
36:48Good evening.
36:49I'm talking about today.
36:51I'm talking about today.
36:53Ah, ah, ah, ah.
36:54All right, caller, I think, I think because of the weather or something, uh, we're not hearing you quite clearly.
37:00So, uh, I'm going to ask you to call back if, if need be.
37:03I'm sorry about that.
37:05Okay, bye.
37:06All right.
37:07So, um, we're going to be a continuing conversation.
37:09So, we're hopeful, of course, that, you know, I was, I was mentioning Gasparilla, William, and I know why now.
37:15Because our next video deals with, uh, an apparent arson attack in the Gasparilla area.
37:23Um, this is a video courtesy, Dexter, Philip, again, on the Express.
37:27Uh, a high-on-the-lancher vehicle at the home of Kendall Paye, a First Street Harmony Hall near Gasparilla was burned to the ground during an arson attack Sunday morning.
37:39Obviously, they're not suiting us to, the motive for it, and I know police are continuing their investigations into this specific matter.
37:49And this is really unfortunate because it appears that the, the vehicle and the structure was, um, destroyed by fire.
37:56Yeah.
37:56Because, um, what is a bit striking is that the vehicle is burned, it appears to be from the back.
38:03Yeah.
38:03And it is some descent away from the structure itself.
38:06So, someone seemed to have had the time to venture to both areas and, by whatever means, ignited the, um, the, the property of the, of the gentleman, causing him the losses.
38:20Uh, it's, it's, it's very difficult, you know.
38:22Obviously, there's some, maybe, uh, envy or something that we obviously have to find out more about why they wanted to send a message of some sort to the individual.
38:34Well, all right, we have another caller on the line.
38:37Caller, good evening.
38:40Yes, good afternoon, sir.
38:42Um, to you and the officer.
38:45Good evening, sir.
38:45Now, I am an ex-law man, army specifically, and been living out of this country for a while, and I've noticed something since I've been back in Trinidad.
39:00Uh-huh.
39:01Uh-huh.
39:02They, the commuters on the road, they speed for no reason, with no regards to life.
39:13And it's, it's, it's annoying to see how they speed on the highway, the roads, the roads have a lot of holes, so you've got to choose which hole you want to go into, not that you can get away from it.
39:27And they speed in, then they have a thing they do, they do the ostrich syndrome.
39:33They turn their head and making a bad drive, so you're not looking at, so they're not looking at you, see, them, because you didn't see me.
39:41And they, they actually turn their head.
39:44And it's ridiculous because they, it is taking lives on a daily basis, and nobody not getting it.
39:51I, I, I can't even understand what is the match for them not to understand it.
39:57Secondly, these kids in school, as, funny as to say, they need to be arrested, because no matter what programs the, the past government or this government put, they do not want no programs.
40:14They're defending badness, and everybody coming and jumping up and talking about, oh, this prime minister, that, and the ex-one, that, and all, the kids of themselves.
40:24There are many programs that the system has been putting in place.
40:27They do not want it.
40:29They, they want to argue, it, they, and they don't even understand the gang culture, because in New York City, it has millions of gangs, but there's a law within the gang culture.
40:41They're just lawless here for no reason, and you all, as they, from the law perspective, all you have to clamp down on them.
40:51Let, let the public say whatever you want.
40:54So long as you all didn't break the law in the process of dealing with them, put the strangers in on them, because they're not understanding.
41:01We who outside looking in, people don't even want to come to their head no more, because of the, we understand the crime.
41:08We, it is what it is, and it's crime all about, but this stupidness in the schools, it's like, they're fighting for a man, they're fighting for this, they're not studying education,
41:20and they want to, and the parents want to blame this one, and that one, and that one, lock them up.
41:25Thanks a lot, Kola, for your comments.
41:31Very interesting.
41:32Mr. Bassan, that issue with the children are not violence.
41:40We have to accept that our society is a violent society.
41:45The murder rates for the last umpteen years is testament to that.
41:50We have a, we live in a violent society.
41:53Someone said to me recently that the way we live, sorry, the way we drive is the way we live.
42:00And, and it makes sense, because I observe on the road where, where persons will take great care sometimes to avoid hitting a dog, but not a human being.
42:11Yeah, you know, you talk about the driving, and you know, so many people, I know my producer would love to show that clip again with the Ferrari.
42:23So many people call and message, but we'll talk about that more after this break.
42:28Stay with us.
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44:08Welcome back to Beyond the Tape.
44:26I'm your host, Mark Bussand, joined today by ASP Lith.
44:28Jones from the Northern Division, and of course we're talking about this issue of driving.
44:34And, well, from the video that we saw earlier on the hit and run, of course, we're not sitting, well, we're not sitting with the hit and run.
44:41Okay.
44:41But we know that at least the clip that we saw, we didn't see the driver in that stopping.
44:47And we're going back to this video here.
44:50ASP showed us yesterday and there were several people who actually messaged me.
44:54I even had a couple of my colleagues in the building asking me about this video.
44:59And to think that this person could be so insane to drive 248 kilometers per hour on the southbound lane.
45:07On our roads?
45:08On our roads.
45:09Look at the speed.
45:10Breakneck speed.
45:12Darting through traffic.
45:14The Uriah Butler Highway.
45:15You could see some landmark buildings there and so on.
45:18And this is a highway that has had at least six or eight road fatalities in the last week.
45:24In recent times, yes.
45:25Yes.
45:25That's correct.
45:26And I don't want to be too judgmental.
45:31Yes.
45:31But this would very well be one of those persons who will have great ease paying a ticket or paying a fine rather than enjoying the benefit of losing his permit.
45:41Or getting his permit ran for a while.
45:44Yeah.
45:44So he can learn some lessons and have to take a taxi or public transportation otherwise or have dropped off by relatives.
45:51Certainly he has no regard for other motorists or for the lives of persons on the roads.
45:55That's right.
45:56And I'm certain along that highway we have CCTV cameras.
46:02And I hope that the appropriate investigation is being conducted towards identifying that vehicle and who was driving at the point in time and deal with it accordingly.
46:11Yeah.
46:12We can't just brush it off and just show a video on social media and show it on beyond the tape and expect that nothing will be done further.
46:20Correct.
46:20Because this is somebody who has broke the speed limit by one and a half times what it is.
46:28We have a caller on the line right now.
46:30Caller, good evening.
46:31Good evening.
46:32Good evening, Mark.
46:33And good evening to ASP.
46:34Good evening.
46:34Good evening, Mark.
46:35Good evening, Mark.
46:35Good evening.
46:35Good evening.
46:36I just wanted to say it's a fine work that the officers are doing at the Northern Division.
46:40However, my comment this evening is that we tend to focus more on the punitive aspects of crime and juvenile delinquency and not on the rehabilitative side.
46:51I just wanted to get the officers' input into this as to what remedies or what suggestions could be made from the policing side to deal with beefing up rehabilitation in these areas.
47:04Thanks so much, Caller.
47:06That is a very interesting perspective.
47:09Yes.
47:09And I like that question.
47:11Now, the rehabilitative approach is not a singular thing.
47:17It is multifaceted.
47:19It involves the home.
47:23It involves the school.
47:24It involves faith-based organizations.
47:27It involves the state, generally, government services, that is.
47:31Yes, we have the police who will be there, usually over the face of the community policing approach.
47:37They are usually sometimes the longest in the community or working the hardest in the community because of their mandates.
47:44And we support it as we go along.
47:46And we also have, and we cannot rule it out because there are those persons who may be easily rehabilitated and whose behavior can be easily honed.
47:56But then there are those persons who need stricter measures.
48:00And I believe that is where we have the Children's Court together with the work of the Children's Authority.
48:07Some children, and as I said, I remember there's a young lady that's featured publicly, very recent, who is one of those juveniles who ran away from a center.
48:20Yes.
48:21And she's seen travel all around the place, and she's believed to be involved with gangs as well.
48:26We need more support for the Children's Authority.
48:30And I say this because I spent some time at the Special Victims Department.
48:33And when you sit with the court, and the court is doing its best to design programs to support these juveniles, to correct their behavior so that they can be of value for themselves and for society,
48:46when we have some of the juveniles who we cannot allow to be on the outside, sometimes there's no available space for them.
48:57And I think we are in a bad state.
49:00If all of our available centers right now are filled, I'm just saying, and we get five of those juveniles from Central to place within a facility now, we may have a challenge.
49:12In fact, we may have a crisis.
49:13And I think we need, and that's what I said earlier, we need some more investments towards some of these centers where they can be controlled,
49:22and we can now work with them towards their development, their personal development, and even their professional development.
49:29Because we have some young ladies who came out of those programs, and they are doing well.
49:33And then we have some who we have to continue working with.
49:36Yeah, and we raise the issue of school violence, and I know we're going to go to a break shortly.
49:40But, you know, basically, you know, ex-mitting these students at a very young age will obviously have some traumatic effect on them.
49:47And what are you going to do next?
49:49You have to try to still hone these persons on the right path, and you have to have some kind of program or programs to guide them down that path.
49:57If they are expelled from school.
49:59Mandatory programs.
50:01Exactly.
50:01So that at least we will have a semblance of, you know, getting them back on track to make a meaningful contribution in society.
50:09That's right.
50:09I fully endorse that.
50:11All right.
50:11We're going to take a short break, and we'll be back.
50:13Stay with us.
50:14We'll be back.
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52:22Welcome back to Beyond the Tape.
52:37I'm your host, Mark Bassan, joined today by ASP Leith Jones of the Northern Division.
52:43And I know you have some information.
52:45We talk a lot here about fraud and scams in Trinidad and Tobago.
52:49And we, obviously, you know, one of those is that everybody was looking to try to get that visa.
52:54Yes, certainly.
52:55And even with the current situation in the U.S.
52:59Yeah.
52:59And the production being made by the president over there.
53:02We have with us right now at the Arama Police Station a young lady who is answering at least eight counts of fraud.
53:14Visa, passport fraud.
53:16Wow.
53:16I can't delve too much into it.
53:19No, no, of course not.
53:20However, we understand that she has a very vast network.
53:26She set up her structure in such a way that persons are let her believe she's an agent of the U.S. Embassy.
53:35And she can provide them with visas at a cost.
53:40We have persons as far as Central Division coming forward as we speak.
53:44She's in custody since last week.
53:45And she should be appearing in court very soon.
53:48Right.
53:48But those investigations will be ongoing.
53:50We expect to have a lot more victims coming forward because we understand this has been going on for some time.
53:57And so we are appealing to everyone who may have been a victim of this visa passport fraud and with a young lady from an area in the Northern Division to come forward.
54:08You can go to the Chegoners Police, the Cuma Police.
54:11You can call our hotlines or you can come to the Arama Police Station.
54:14And we will gladly entertain your report.
54:16Yes.
54:17It's really unfortunate when persons, you know, you should go through the right and proper channels, you know.
54:22Yes.
54:22Because I know the U.S. Embassy, you have to go online and fill up the form.
54:26If you take too long, it times out and you have to go back.
54:30And there are legitimate persons or establishments near the U.S. Embassy if you're having difficulty filling it out who can assist you.
54:38Don't take anybody's word for it.
54:40Go out and check it out yourself.
54:41And as we talk about persons who are continuing to evade authorities, this is what we had shown yesterday.
54:50Arama, cutlass wielding man.
54:52Oh, yes.
54:52Ataba.
54:53Mm-hmm.
54:58Striking the female with the flat side of the view and then swiped at the other man who jumps over.
55:03Yeah.
55:04He continues walking and then he comes back and he strikes this guy standing in the middle of the picture there.
55:10Across the street.
55:11Across his neck and face.
55:13And then kicks him.
55:16We don't know what would have provoked this attack.
55:19Obviously, you know, people could have, as you said, run into the roadways and be struck by a vehicle.
55:24And people are still running there in a frenzy.
55:28Yeah.
55:28Look, we can see his face and I know that the police is pretty soon going to catch up with him.
55:34But the unfortunate thing with this is that we do not have a report.
55:37Not one person has come forward as yet and we are appealing to those persons.
55:42There are persons who sit there who appear to be of Latin American heritage.
55:48Yes.
55:48You all can come forward.
55:50I hope someone can get the word out to them.
55:51We have interpreters who work with the police who will help us take your reports, take your statements, and we can identify this offender and prosecute him.
56:01This could have easily turned into multiple homicides.
56:03Yes, yes, or serious wounding with intent because of malicious wounding.
56:08Because when a cutlass, if you chop somebody, cross their arms and so on.
56:13Because it's going to be maimed, as he said.
56:14Once it's sharp, it's going to be problematic.
56:17Yeah.
56:18So we just have about a minute left.
56:20ASP, anything you would like to educate the public on?
56:25I would like to encourage the public to remain vigilant.
56:29We are in a time where crime is posing a challenge.
56:32We are going to do all that we can.
56:35And we are in the Northern Division, in particular, Northern Division North, we are ramping up our operations.
56:41We are taking careful measures towards holding persons accountable.
56:48That is, the police officers, for what we are charged with.
56:51So we are monitoring our patrols.
56:53We are monitoring the use of the body-worn cameras.
56:56In fact, there is daily accountability for the use of the body-worn cameras in the Northern Division North.
57:00And we are asking persons to carry themselves in such a way that they make themselves a small target to the criminal element.
57:10All right?
57:10So I want to thank the public for their support thus far.
57:14Yes, certainly.
57:15And the efforts here.
57:16And we certainly want to thank ASP Jones for sharing about the Northern Division.
57:19And we hope to see him here again in the not-too-far future.
57:24All right?
57:24Remember, we run tonight at 11.30.
57:27We run tomorrow at 11 o'clock.
57:31The TV6 News is up next.
57:32Stay with us.
57:33And we'll be back here tomorrow at 6.
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