TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: SERIOUS PUBLIC CONCERN ABOUT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PORT OF SPAIN 001205

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC KCRM SNAR SOCI TD
SUBJECT: TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: SERIOUS PUBLIC CONCERN ABOUT
CRIME


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY


1. (SBU) Summary: With Christmas and the February 2008
Carnival season approaching, Trinidad and Tobago is gripped
by fear of crime, which, fueled by media frenzy, is perceived
as out of control. Many complain that the GOTT is powerless
to do anything, or is unconcerned, criticizing the
performance of recently re-appointed National Security
Minister Martin Joseph and Police Commissioner Trevor Paul,
who has been kept on for want of a replacement. Although the
GOTT is taking steps to reform its police force and institute
community policing, public confidence in the police is
lacking. The roots of crime include the influx of drugs and
weapons from South America, income disparities, a breakdown
of traditional values, deficiencies in the judicial system,
and a general culture of lawlessness reflected in a lack of
basic civic consciousness. The U.S. and other foreign
governments assist the GOTT with training, expertise, and
technical assistance, but absent a wholesale transformation
of society and a revamping of the police, prosecution,
judiciary, and prison system, as well as an effective system
of protecting witnesses, the situation is not likely to
improve soon. End Summary.


Latest Statistics
--------------


2. (U) As of December 19, 2007, there had been 371 homicides
during the year, of which 195 were deemed to be gang-related,
and 12 kidnappings for ransom. Statistics comparing various
crimes from the period from January 1 through December 3 of
2006 and the same period in 2007 are as follows:

2006 2007 Percentage Change

Kidnapping 175 155 -11

Kidnapping for ransom 14 12 -14

Robberies 5097 4381 -14

Wounding and shooting 604 563 -7

Sexual offenses 800 700 -13

Burglaries and break-ins 4585 4394 -4

Stolen Vehicles 1348 1573 +17

What People Fear
--------------


3. (SBU) Although the number of crimes (except homicide) is
down slightly, the decrease is not enough to lend credence to
claims by the Minister of National Security, Martin Joseph,
that the situation is improving. Virtually every day the
three major daily newspapers carry a front page story of
another grisly murder. The nadir may have been the brutal
rape and murder of a 16 year old schoolgirl on her way home
from tutoring in November. Her decomposing body was found by
searching community members (who saw a flock of vultures)
five days later, and the police reportedly dismissed the
initial anxious inquiries of her father, telling him she had
probably run off with a man.


4. (SBU) There is a perception that, although some places are
safer than others, no place is completely safe. Recently 20
bathers at Las Cuevas Beach, a popular destination, were
threatened with dogs, a pistol, and a cutlass, and were
robbed of their possessions in broad daylight. A woman
jogger was raped in early December in Port of Spain near a
road well frequented by early morning runners. Businesses
are robbed and their owners murdered, and people are raped
and killed during home invasions, including in rural areas
that were previously free of all but minor crime. Old timers
say the situation is the worst they have ever seen. Wealthy
East Indians, Syrians and Chinese feel especially vulnerable,
and avoid certain areas of Port of Spain entirely.
Expatriates also say crime is worse than before, and send
warnings to each other by the Internet. Certain foreign
companies are attempting to lower their employees' profiles
by recalling their company-furnished luxury cars and issuing
them more modest vehicles. Although the fear of crime is
probably disproportional to the likelihood of becoming a

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victim, the fear by itself is enough to crimp people's sense
of security and enjoyment of life.

What the GOTT is Doing
--------------


5. (SBU) When it concentrates on a specific area, such as
kidnapping for ransom, the GOTT has achieved some success,
reducing the number of such kidnappings for ransom from 58 in
2005 to 17 in all of 2006, and 12 so far this year. Part of
this has been due to USG involvement in a high-profile case
involving the kidnap and murder of an American citizen;
criminals are reluctant to risk the relentless and dogged
pursuit that is likely when the USG gets on a case. Overall,
fewer than 20 percent of all homicides are ever solved. The
solution rate for kidnappings, 45 percent, is better.


6. (U) Under the tutelage of Professor Stephen Mastrofksi of
George Mason University, the Trinidad and Tobago Police
Service (TTPS) has initiated a series of reforms, including
promotions based on merit rather than seniority, purchasing
more vehicles, and building five modern model "community
police" stations. Thirty-nine retired investigators from
Scotland Yard are providing advice and assistance to the
Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT).
However, concomitant modernization is required in the
judiciary, which suffers from a backlog of cases, the
prosecution, which often loses cases (many of which are
presented by TTPS officers acting as prosecutors),and the
prison system, which is overburdened and under funded.
Although the Commissioner of Prisons claims to have a
"restorative justice" program that, according to him, has
reduced the rate of recidivism substantially, some critics
still maintain that the prison system concentrates more on
incarceration than on rehabilitation.


7. (SBU) The GOTT has also created the Special Anti-Crime
Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT),but this mixture of
police and military does not yet have a clearly defined
mission or a legal basis on which to operate, and its
creation is said to have negatively affected the morale of
the TTPS, because members of SAUTT are paid more and have
better equipment and weapons. In addition, the GOTT has
purchased a blimp with cameras and radar that periodically
drones over the city, although this "Eye in the Sky" is
widely derided as an expensive but ultimately useless toy.
(Note: It may be more effective at detecting illegal
maritime traffic than deterring common crime; the GOTT has
had some success in interdicting shipments of narcotics.)

Public's Opinion of GOTT Efforts
--------------


8. (SBU) The most charitable view the public takes is that
the GOTT sincerely wants to deal with the issue of crime but
is clueless about how to proceed. Another more cynical view
is that, having won the recent elections and thus being
assured of five more years in power, the current
administration, headed by the People's National Movement,
simply does not care. There has been widespread criticism of
the re-appointment of Martin Joseph as Minister of National
Security. Joseph was recently ridiculed in the press for
stating in a speech that fighting crime was more difficult
than he had originally thought it would be, although the same
critics often suggest that crime reduction is a simple
matter. There has also been grumbling about the retention of
Trevor Paul, who was asked to stay on fter his retirement as
Commissioner of Police, because a suitable replacement has
not yet been found. There is a common consensus that some
police officers are corrupt, and that the police are, by and
large, rarely present when and where needed, are not to be
trusted, and are of little help in assisting victims of crime
or investigating and solving crimes.

Roots of the Crime Problem
--------------


9. (SBU) Older citizens of T and T say that when they were
children, standards were higher, schools were better, parents
were stricter, and the entire community kept an eye on young
people. While people have been saying this for thousands of
years, this does not mean that their comments in this case
are mistaken. However, the roots of T and T's crime problem
are far deeper than this.


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10. (SBU) T and T is only a few miles from Venezuela, and
is a prime transshipment point for illegal narcotics. Those
who handle the drugs are paid in a combination of drugs,
cash, and weapons, so the country is awash in illegal
firearms, including semiautomatic pistols, shotguns, and
assault rifles. More than half of all murders, 195 of 368 as
of December 19, have been gang related, as rivals settle
scores and compete for business and territory. There is also
a great deal of money, due to the gas and oil boom, and a
wide disparity between the wealthiest and the poorest (17% of
the population still lives below the poverty level),coupled
with a desire among some youth to, in the words of rapper 50
Cent, "Get rich or die trying." Contracts for make-work
projects under the Unemployment Relief Program (URP) and
Community Environmental Protection and Enhancement Program
(CEPEP) are a lucrative source of income, with those in
charge of a particular project listing "ghost workers" and
skimming the payroll, and contractors for these programs are
sometimes killed to create a vacancy.


11. (SBU) The detection rate for homicide is below 20
percent. Even when someone is arrested and charged, his case
is often thrown out because the police officer fails to
appear or has not assembled and presented an adequate case.
In addition, several key witnesses have been murdered before
they could testify, and others have been intimidated into
silence, or have disappeared out of fear. There is also an
apparent fear by juries of bringing guilty verdicts against
certain notorious persons charged with serious crimes such as
kidnapping and murder. The judicial system is clogged with
backlogs, and offenders are often released on bail and then
commit more crimes. The police are rarely seen patrolling in
public and enforcing laws. They are slow to appear when
called. Complainants who go to a police station often report
that they were treated in a lackadaisical manner. Police
morale is low, and they lack modern technology and training
(for example, there is no computerized vehicle registration
system). Furthermore, many in the community fear the police,
who are often accused of using excessive violence, being
quick on the draw, and making arbitrary and capricious
arrests of innocent persons. In addition, a high ranking
officer recently alleged that there was widespread corruption
involving drugs and weapons among the TTPS in the south of
Trinidad.


12. (SBU) Finally, there is a culture of impunity. A
columnist recently observed that the GOTT had passed laws
against littering, loud music in vehicles, illegal parking,
drug use, and domestic violence, none of which were being
enforced. Customers in stores routinely jump the line,
motorists drink and drive, and barrel down the shoulder of
the road to pass a long line of bumper to bumper traffic,
then force their way back in, passengers toss garbage out of
car windows, drivers stop suddenly at will and block an
entire lane of traffic, and pedestrians sprint across a busy
highway within sight of a pedestrian overpass or a crosswalk
with signals. As a minister at the funeral of a young farmer
shot and killed by bandits while trying to protect his family
said, when people disobey minor laws and nothing happens,
they realize they can violate virtually any law with
impunity.

How the US is Helping GOTT Combat Crime
--------------


13. (SBU) Regardless of the overall lack of civic
consciousness, inefficiency and corruption in the police, and
the perceived fecklessness of the Minister of National
Security and the Commissioner of Police, there are a number
of honest police who want to protect and serve the community.
The International Narcotics and Law Enforcement program
(INL) provides equipment and training to law enforcement
agencies, and the office of the Legal AttachQ works with the
GOTT to investigate and prosecute crimes involving American
citizens. The Drug Enforcement Agency works to indict and
extradite drug traffickers with a proven connection to crimes
with a link to the United States. The Bureau of Diplomatic
Security also provides a number of anti-terrorism training
programs to GOTT law enforcement personnel.


14. (SBU) There is also a long-term program underway to
transform the operating procedures of the TTPS, as noted in
paragraph 6. Regardless of how much the police improve their
methodology and technology, the overall situation is not
likely to improve soon; the public must learn to take an

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active role in fighting crime, and must also learn to trust
and work with the police again. In addition, following the
classic "broken window" theory, people must be fined or
otherwise sanctioned for breaking small laws before they
become emboldened to commit more serious crimes.

Hope at Last?
--------------


15. (SBU) Comment: History contains examples of countries
that have gradually developed a more orderly and disciplined
way of life, and have eventually turned themselves around.
If improvements in the police force can be combined with
reform of the judicial and prison system, the passage and
enforcement of new laws (such as DNA identification and the
use of wiretaps),and a gradual shift in societal attitudes,
the current situation may eventually be improved. However,
it is likely to be a long and uphill battle. End Comment.
AUSTIN