00:00Former National Security Minister Gary Griffith is strongly criticizing the
00:05rejection of the Zones of Special Operations or Zoso bill in the upper
00:10house warning that the decision hands renewed advantage to criminal elements
00:15I am disappointed because the country is going to pay a price and the lower biden citizens are the ones that are
00:20going to pay a price and the reason for this is not because of the independent senators or the opposite
00:25position just being against the government and there are many persons
00:30who have attacked me because of my support for the police service and support of the Zones of Special Operations
00:34but I knew the importance of the Zones of Special Operations
00:35the importance of this without that Zones of Special Operations and Esuino shutting
00:40now it a lot of these individuals who are going to come back out they are going to hurt the country and hurt it back
00:45badly in a statement Griffith described the vote against the bill as a deeply
00:50consequential error in judgment he noted that Trinidad and Tobago previously operated
00:55under a nationwide state of emergency for more than 14 months under both
01:00PNM and UNC administrations during which authorities exercise power
01:05as equal to and in some cases broader than those proposed under Zones
01:10also Griffith argued that over the past year there has been a noticeable absence of new police
01:15policing initiatives making so so in his view a necessary frontline tool to count
01:20escalating criminal activity in the absence of commissioners who are
01:25ministers coming up with policies unit systems programs where we saw none of that in 2015
01:30to 2018 and 2021 to 2026 inclusive of the last year by this commissioner
01:35the government was left with no choice but to implement a state of emergency had the government not done that
01:40we would have seen a murder rate of over 600 again because there was nothing new nothing dynamic no new
01:45unit no new technology no new system no new program nothing at all he also linked the belt
01:50as collapsed to public concern surrounding the police shooting of joshua samaru last week
01:55which he says was poorly handled by the police commissioner but people are fearful of police
02:00abuse of abuse of authority further because of this situation there's a standard operational procedure
02:05departmental order that's standing order making it mandatory for police officers to use
02:10the cameras and this commission has refused to implement that so because of these things
02:15had we put that mandatory procedure for police officers to have body to use the body cameras
02:20had we uh the commission of police use international best practice and have these officers
02:25who were involved in the shooting go immediately on administrative leave if those things were done it would
02:30have minimized the concern that many persons in this country have of this country becoming a virtual
02:35police state that is the problem the problem lies i think the commissioner has single-handedly
02:40police officers to destroy this bill griffith suggested measures such as mandatory body-worn camera
02:45police officers for officers operating in social areas along with the compulsory use of less
02:50less lethal options including tasers and pepper spray as ways to strengthen
02:55oversight and reduce the risk of abuse he cautioned that without such men
03:00measures the country risks a resurgence in violent crime including murder figures exceeding
03:05600 annually a regression he says no responsible policy make-up
03:10or citizen should accept the former national security minister said rejecting the bill
03:15bill sends the wrong signal not only to criminals but also to law-abiding citizens
03:20citizens and front-line officers describing the outcome as a setback for public safety
03:25safety rather than a victory for civil liberties
03:28over she to worry rob narine
03:30sylton tb6 news
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