1 week ago
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DAREECE POLO
Senior Reporter
Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander’s first 100 days in office have drawn mixed reactions. Since the United National Congress’ April 28 General Election victory, the party has adopted its manifesto as Government policy, with its crime plan falling under the banner of “Crime and Justice Reform”.
Three of the plan’s objectives directly linked to Alexander’s ministry have been achieved thus far: restructuring the National Security Ministry, creating the ministry of home affairs, now Homeland Security, and establishing the Ministry of Defence.
The Ministry of Homeland Security is tasked with maintaining law and order, ensuring public safety and defence against aggression, managing disaster preparedness and relief, and monitoring and controlling the movement of people into and out of the country.
While CEPEP, URP and the Reafforestation Programme do not fall under Alexander’s direct portfolio, Government has justified placing their overhaul within the broader homeland security framework, arguing that their infiltration by gangs and criminal networks poses a direct threat to public safety and undermines efforts to restore law and order.
Other key actions include the appointment of a substantive Police Commissioner, Allister Guevarro, on June 18 and the imposition of a State of Emergency on July 18 (extended on July 28).
Government has also held consultations on the proposed stand-your-ground legislation, while the Cabinet, on July 18, approved the absorption of 800 Special Reserve Police officers. Earlier, on May 22, the Cabinet gave the green light for 280 auxiliary fire officers to be integrated into the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service, as it aims to address longstanding staffing shortages.
However, for former National Security minister and ex-police commissioner Gary Griffith, Alexander’s most notable achievement thus far is the significant drop in the murder toll.
“We’ve seen a drop in homicides by 34 per cent. We’ve seen, for the first time in a long time, a commissioner of police being appointed without the political bacchanal, the highest reduction in crime in the last 17 years, other than my last year,” Griffith said on CNC3’s The Morning Brew on Tuesday.
He also praised the Government’s efforts to strip contracts in the social programme from gang-affiliated individuals.
But former national security minister Marvin Gonzales told Guardian Media it was the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) SoE last December that triggered this year’s drop in the murder rate before Alexander took office.
“By the time we had the last election on April 28, there was already a 30 per cent or so decrease in murders. So, when people say today that there’s a decrease, I mean, come on, let’s not be, let’s not play smart with foolishness.”
He also criticised the minister’s stand-your-ground comments and the decision to send Prisons Commissioner Carlos Corraspe on vacation leave on August 6
“Where, in the midst of a State of Emergency, you are seeing movements taking place with the heads of your prison service and your regiment? That should concern every right-thinking person, because it points to instability.”
Meanwhile, criminologist Daurius Figuera said that while it was progressive and laudable to split national security into the defence and homeland security ministries, reform is required, as the bar for national security has been very low in recent years.
“Anything that has moved untoward and questionable is self-damage because remember, you are performing in this ministry at a time when there is no grave pressure upon you to perform because people have been getting killed from 2017 to 2024,” Figuera said.
However, he said 100 days is too short to judge Alexander’s performance, suggesting a quarter-year instead. And he said the Government’s crime plan isn’t new.
“We have had, coming out in 100 days, a statement on a crime plan. When I read the statement, what I said to myself, it is simply no different from what went before. The only difference was stand-your-ground, because there was no statement on the threat posed by transnational organised crime to Trinidad and Tobago and how we intend to deal with and mitigate this threat.”
Multiple calls and messages to Alexander over the course of 48 hours went unanswered.
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