00:00An environment of fear driven by violent crime.
00:03That is how Congress of the People leader Prakash Ramada describes the reality of where the country has found itself.
00:09Ramada is supporting the new coalition formed between the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and other Latin American countries.
00:18If it is to manifest itself as a truth that the shield of the Americas is to deal with drug
00:25trafficking
00:26and goes hand in hand with gun running and money laundering,
00:31then we have a golden opportunity for the first time that has been publicly articulated in such an international forum.
00:40And I am happy if Trinidad and Tobago participate in full fledge.
00:45Ramada is of the view that opportunities such as this do not come around often.
00:50He says that citizens are also fearful of rogue law enforcement officers,
00:54adding that he is working on a case where there is video evidence of officers planting items at a home
01:01that they were raiding.
01:02If it is that the shield of the Americas will provide Trinidad and Tobago with resources internationally
01:13to be able to come into Trinidad and Tobago,
01:16to be a police to the police and law enforcement, we welcome that.
01:23A similar proposal was raised during the tenure of former police commissioner Dwayne Gibbs
01:28when the idea of integrating Canadian police officers into the TTPS was discussed but never implemented.
01:35Ramada is hoping that the modern investigative tools available in the U.S. will be beneficial to this country.
01:41And as debate is ongoing about the constitutional rights of citizens with respect to the state of emergency,
01:47Ramada endorses the move by the government.
01:50The state of emergency was necessary in my view because we cannot continue to play with old rules with a
02:01new game.
02:03The new criminal and the new entities today do not operate on the basis of respect for law and order.
02:13In fact, they laugh police officers, they have made them laugh at them.
02:16Ramada says the vast drop in murders at the end of 2025 signals that something in the SOE was working.
02:22He is of the view that the way forward must be fleshed out using some of the effective mechanisms under
02:28the SOE.
02:29Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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