A couple people, despite being assigned big titles, if only to correspond with their remuneration packages, have no shame, like Deputy Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin.
That he can face the nation and say “serious crime is down” transcends shameless. One cannot help but wonder: in which world do he and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) operate?
Then I have to slow down and remind myself “the police” live in a different world. Many of them share the view that “they are the law”; unable to make the distinction between themselves and the ordinances. They have been doing this for so long, unchecked, that they have come to believe it. And by surrounding themselves with their colleagues, they continue to validate each other’s illiteracy on matters of “the law”.
However, on a weekly basis, the TTPS sends in their assigned spokespeople to comfort the public with their controlled news conferences and news briefings, spewing a bag of total nonsense, which usually goes unchallenged. And because we were taught to “respect authority”, no one challenges their spin on their prepared and approved statements. Of course, a serious face helps to add credibility.
Over two decades ago I wrote about “lies, damn lies, and statistics”. Today we find ourselves at the same position. One can successfully argue that we never moved. Statistics can be used to support whatever agenda a presenter wishes. I know this all too well, as does the TTPS, as is reflected in their “narcotics category” on reported and detection rates. (See TTPS stats online.)
They went on to add a line adopted and adapted over the decades, preaching “crime is everybody’s business”. Can anyone point to the particular era when crime became everybody’s business? Most people have little or no interaction with the TTPS. In the few times when people do interact with them, we hear about and read reports where citizens were disrespected, treated with scorn, disdain, as if they were criminals… As irony would have it, this same organisation is now asking citizens for assistance.
One of my theories on that goes like this: treat citizens like garbage, the way they do now, creating and maintaining the “us-them” divide. Citizens lose whatever little respect they may have had for the TTPS. Then call on the same ill-treated, frustrated citizens for assistance, knowing they would not assist. Then just blame or arrest citizens for not rendering assistance or providing information.
We saw the incident with the maxi-taxi driver in City Gate who refused to lend assistance. This way the blame game can continue for the next couple generations; much like how the Government and Opposition operate.
Are we to think that the TTPS, which frustrated an entire nation recently, while boldly playing “In yuh face policing”—July 23, 2024, their 2.0 updated version of the March 2015 “Day of Total Policing”—didn’t know citizens’ assistance is fundamental to resolving criminal matters?
Is this the same TTPS that awards thousand-dollar tickets to citizens, many which come with demerit points, for a blown rear light or bubbles on one’s tint? Are these the same men and women who force drivers to pull aside while they whizz through traffic jams, sirens blaring, only to be seen by their favourite doubles operation? Are these the same men who are quick to slap citizens once they get in any type of disagreement, while hiding behind the title “police”?
The prophet said, “Serious crimes were down, but overshadowed by a high murder rate…” It is quite apparent the TTPS does not consider murder a serious crime; perhaps it deserves its own category. It is also quite clear that the TTPS can mandate “crime is everybody’s business”.
I also recall WASA using the same line when asking citizens to “conserve” water, saying that saving water is “everybody’s business”. Surely WASA does not appreciate any competition when it comes to wastage. They evidently desire a monopoly in that field, also. And then there was the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) which said “bullying is everybody’s business”.
The TTPS needs to know the population is not as illiterate as they think we are. Not all of us are beneficiaries of Eric Williams’ understanding of a “free education”. Mine was paid for in US dollars. Thus, I hate when my intelligence is being insulted. Perhaps we should declare flooding, road repairs, agriculture, “hell-care”, education, fire, and prison rehabilitation as “everybody’s business” and get rid of the Government.
I wonder if extortion is “everybody’s business” or only that of the new task force?
Rudy Chato Paul Sr
D’Abadie