Crime and the Failure of the Police Service

Crime and the Failure of the Police Service

The tsunami of violent crime is washing over the entire country in a manner more disturbing than any heatwave can be.

While we can combat the heat, drinking lots of fluids, avoiding being outdoors and keeping in cool places, using fans, air conditioning etc., there is no escape from the crime wave, no cool spot to escape it.

The failure of those who are supposed to provide a guarantee to the right of all members of our society to peace and security is blatantly exposed by the escalating (and according to the US - wow the US of black lives matter - alarming) and increasingly barbarous murder toll.

Spiralling out of Control

Even the overall serious crime numbers are rising again and kidnapping has again reared its ugly head.

The murder toll for the first quarter of 2016 is equal to or higher than that for the entire year for ANY YEAR between 1994 - 2000.

And, 2008 - 2010, continue to hold the dubious rank of the worst years of the killing spree in the history of our country.

Most importantly, the abject failure of the police and now popular phrase "law enforcement" to either prevent or detect the perpetrators of these crimes has been exposed as a "nasty sore foot" as we used to call it in good ole Trini parlance.

Millions of dollars have been thrown into the attempt to improve the police service with no perceptible results. Detection rates are now at their worst - we are told that in only 3 in every hundred murders is someone arrested. The conviction rates are much worse.

What is the measure of the effectiveness of the army presence in our communities?

The fact is that there is no system of setting and ensuring achievement of objective performance indicators for the police service. For example, since the 1980's in many major cities of the world, the simplest measure of police performance has been response time.

In well-laid out cities like Toronto, the required response time since then was about 4 minutes.

In TT, we are still waiting long times, if there is a response, despite the introduction of a Rapid Response Unit in recent years.

Messed up Management Structure

The management of the Police Service was totally messed up, in terms of accountability, when the Constitution and Police Service Act were amended in or about 2006-7 to give "control" to the Commissioner (in response to claims of 'toothless bulldog' labels).

The Commissioner was elevated to the level of the Constitutional body - the Police Service Commission - which was reduced to exercising its powers to appoint, promote, transfer, discipline and remove a grand total of about 9 of the most senior officers in the police service.

The Commissioner even refused to give account for his performance a few years ago when asked to do so by the Commission.

That single-person office is now responsible for promotions, discipline etc in respect of thousands of police officers instead of the machinery of the Police Service Commission and Director of Public Administration.

Last week, the Police Association finally got an opportunity to congratulate the Commissioner for getting the promotion of Sergeants done.

At the same time, there are hundreds of disciplinary matters that remain unconcluded.

What is the Government's response to this failed management structure? The Prime Minister, a week ago at a PNM party meeting in Arima, announced that the lack of accountability will be solved by people getting to know who the District Superintindent is and demanding answers from him.

The Police Commissioner, according to the amendments introduced by the PNM in 2006-7 is the accountable officer with the power to "manage" the police service. Now, Dr. Rowley wants officers several ranks down to account to the population!!! What madness!!

Dual Disciplinary Processes

In the case of the growing instances of police misconduct, which was inevitable in light of the management structure changes, there now exists a dual disciplinary process in the Police Service at the entry-level of investigation of alleged wrong-doing. 

The Police Complaints Authority was created outside of the service to investigate complaints against police officers for abuse and even corruption which could lead to recommendations for disciplinary action to the Commissioner or criminal charges to the DPP.

We are also now hearing of a new internal police service organ called the Professional Standards Bureau which is also investigating wrongdoing by police officers. 

The PCA was created, in part, to get away from police investigating 'their own'. But, the PSB is now there to investigate 'their own'. 

It is no wonder that discipline in the police service is in such a mess that video is surfacing of armed officers in uniform wining and drinking in a fete somewhere. Or, a police tv personality is engaged in an altercation with a rival 'reality tv' personality at a crime scene. 

All that we here is the matter is under investigation. Pretty much the same thing we hear about the 97% of unsolved murders or high-profile matters.

What then are the ordinary citizens who are enduring increasing numbers of home invasions, robberies, car jackings, brutal wanton killings and shootings to expect?

• "The matter is under investigation".
• Slow or no response to emergency calls
• Totally unacceptable detection and conviction rates.

The bottom line is the police service and those who set the policies for its function are failing in their duty to the citizens to guarantee their right to peace and safety.

This is happening in the context of a new paradigm of organised crime and barbarous criminality while the policing continues to operate as if we are still faced with a few misguided miscreants and bad boys operating in random fashion. 

The routine announcements of new 'crime plans' (Note: not anti-crime plans), new agencies - SAUTT, SSA etc with new or expanded spying capabilities and powers and the empty threats of Ministers of National Security after every brutal event provide no comfort or assurances to the population. 

(In the next installment, the nature of the criminal enterprise and some proposals for addressing the criminal tsunami will be presented.)