AG: Government at war with gangs

Attorney General John Jeremie - Photo by Angelo Marcelle

ATTORNEY General John Jeremie says government is at war with criminal gangs in Trinidad and Tobago.

He made this statement when he opened debate on the Home Invasion (Self-Defence and Defence of Property) Bill, 2025 in the Senate on December 2.

"Government is at war with the gangs."

Government senators thumped their desks as Jeremie added this effort will continue until success is achieved.

He advised anyone in a criminal gang or engaged in gang activity "to find something else to do."

When the House of Representatives moved a motion on October 31, to extend the state of emergency (SoE) by a further three months, Jeremie said the reason for the extension was to allow the security forces to complete operations to dismantle criminal gangs.

The SoE was declared on July 18. On July 28, the House extended it for three months.

Jeremie reminded MP the SoE declared because of intelligence from the police’s Special Branch that was corroborated with other intelligence data “that a plot was in advanced stages of development from within Trinidad and Tobago’s correctional facilities...aimed at attacking and targeting citizens involved in the political and justice system and state buildings across the country.”

Jeremie repeated the SoE was not a crime plan but prevented TT from descending into unprecedented chaos.

He said, “That initial crisis was successfully and efficiently dealt with.”

But he added the police and TT Defence Force currently have other operations against criminal gangs ongoing at this time.

Jeremie said the police and Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander advised him about this.

“These enhanced powers under the SoE are necessary for the completion and consolidation of their efforts towards dismantling the gangs...the criminal networks and keeping the country safe."

The bill does not give people free license to kill anyone who enters their property and sets out certain limitations where this is concerned. One of them found in section 10 of the bill is, "Should the occupant of a dwelling house be engaged in criminal activity or is using that house to further criminal activity, the threat or use of force for standing your ground for self-defence or defence of property is legally forbidden."

Other limitations include the nature of the force or threat being used against the occupant; the extent to which that force was imminent; whether a weapon, firearm or explosive device was used in the home invasion; the size, age, gender and physical capabilities of the parties; the nature and proportionality of the occupant’s response to the threat; and whether the occupant did what he honestly and instinctively thought was necessary for a legitimate purpose.

Stand-your-ground legislation and easier access to legally issued firearms were the UNC’s main campaign promises with respect to tackling crime ahead of the April 28 general election.

Jeremie repeated previous statements by government about the objective of the bill being to curb home invasions.

Government Senator Dr Natalie Chaitan-Maharaj supported Jeremie's position.

She said the legislation was carefully thought out and no one could argue that it was not needed at this time.

Chaitan-Maharaj added it was "intellectual cruelty" for anyone to expect a potential victim of a home invasion to think about legal proportionality in a life-or-death situation.

She told senators she was fortunate not to have been a victim of a home invasion but other people she knew did not have the same luck. Chaitan-Maharaj accused the opposition PNM of "victimising the victims) by refusing to support the bill.

The House passed the bill on November 26. The bill requires a three-fifths majority for passage in the House and Senate which equates to 25 and 19 votes respectively.

In the latter, government has only 15 members in the Senate. Therefore to pass the bill, government needs to get the remaining four votes from either the six opposition senators or the nine independent senators.