00:0060 preventative detention orders were executed within the Port of Spain Division between January and June this year,
00:07more than any other policing division, as part of the district's efforts to disrupt gang activity and reduce violent crime
00:15during the ongoing state of emergency.
00:18Speaking during a media briefing at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain this morning,
00:23head of the Port of Spain Division, Senior Superintendent Raymond Thumb, said 121 preventative detention orders had been approved in
00:33his district during the period under review,
00:35with about half of those orders executed within the district.
00:39During the period of the SOE, 121 preventative detention orders were approved, of which 60 were successfully executed in the
00:53Port of Spain Division.
00:54Through focused anti-crime operations, the identification of key offenders,
00:59and the strategic utilization of legislative provision available under the SOE,
01:06decisive action was taken against individuals involving gang-related activities.
01:13Thumb reported that the division recorded a 3% increase in serious crimes compared with the corresponding period last year.
01:21Nineteen murders were recorded between January 1st and June 2nd, compared to 13 during the same period in 2025.
01:31Ninety-five percent of these murders were gang-related and concentrated primarily in the Besson Street and Belmont Police District.
01:42However, Thumb noted that crime levels remained below figures recorded in previous years
01:48and pointed to what he described as exceptional reductions achieved in 2025.
01:54While the statistics at this time will reflect an increase when compared to 2025,
02:00the division is still showing decreases in crime when compared to 2024 and previous years.
02:07Police also reported significant seizures during anti-crime exercises conducted across the division this year.
02:14Intelligence gathered by investigators pointed to the movement and concealment of firearms, ammunition, and narcotics within Port of Spain,
02:24prompting coordinated operations involving the gang unit, the inter-agency task force, and other specialized units.
02:32Those exercises resulted in the seizure of 18 illegal firearms, 480 rounds of ammunition, and more than 85 kilograms of
02:42narcotics.
02:43Alexander Brussel, TV6 News.
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