With the national budget fast approaching, crime and security remain top priorities for many. Criminologist Dr. Randy Seepersad weighs in on what he hopes to see in the upcoming allocation for national security — and how those funds could be best put to use.
00:00Criminologist Dr. Randy C. Passard is expecting the budgetary allocation for the National Security Ministries to be similar to those in years gone by, with the allocation somewhere around the $7 billion mark. He does, however, want to see some changes in its use.
00:15I think part of the core of the issue is that we focus very heavily on the suppressive types of strategies. I'm not saying those things don't have a place, but it is really only part of the solution.
00:32And you have the budget, you use the budget that is allocated in an effective way to diversify a portfolio, so to speak, to move away from only or primarily the suppressive approaches to dealing with the crime problem.
00:47With recent data showing that Trinidad and Tobago has a higher crime rate than both the United States and Canada, despite having more than two times the amount of police officers per thousand people in comparison to both countries, C. Passard used the statistics to justify his calls for diversifying the use of the National Security Budget allocation, as well as taking an intersectoral approach to solving crime.
01:10So it's not just a matter of putting more police officers on the ground, you know, which serves as well to push that recurrent expenditure that takes such a big chunk out of the National Security allocation, but it really has to do with how you use the money that is allocated and how you spread it across the activities that you want to do.
01:37We really need to reconceptualize and broaden the way so that we sort of bring all of the horses together.
01:46Look for those niche areas in various ministries and sectors that really allow us to fill out, you know, the crime fighting agenda and take advantage of the reach and the broader range of resources and expertise.
02:02He also disagrees with the notion that the softer approaches to solving crime issues haven't worked, saying that international research has showed that countries with lower crime rates have often used the softer approaches, but they haven't been given a fair chance in the Caribbean.
02:17And I would actually beg to differ with the opinion that the softer approaches haven't worked, even in the Caribbean region.
02:26The thing is, the softer approaches, as you put it, haven't actually been given a fair chance in the Caribbean region because the narrative has always pushed this oppressive approach.
02:37And he gave an example of how effective the softer approach can be.
02:40Right here in Trinidad-Dobago, you see just how powerful the softer approaches can actually be.
02:48My example is the Cure Violence Project, which was run under the Ministry of National Security from 2014 to 2017.
02:55And it was a project designed to reduce gang violence and targeted the 16 most gang-prone communities in the East Port of Spain area.
03:07And that project resulted in a 38% decline in murders and woundings and shootings in the target communities.
03:16When, by comparison, the rest of Trinidad and Tobago saw a 16.4% increase in murders and woundings and shootings.
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