More Joint Patrols Coming

Joint police and army patrols will be deployed in known hot spots throughout Trinidad and Tobago to target criminal activity. Chairman of the National Security Council, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, met with the Heads of the State’s security apparatus on Monday July 15th at the Diplomatic Centre in St. Ann’s. The Prime Minister expressed concerns with the incidents of violent crime and the continued use of illegal high-powered assault weapons. He also discussed the need for a more proactive, intelligence driven, targeted and robust approach focused on persons known and suspected to be involved in serious criminality. Coming out of the meeting, it was agreed there would be the deployment of sustained joint operations, particularly in areas where there is a known concentration of criminal activity. The meeting of the National Security Council comes after at least 15 people were killed by gun violence over the weekend. Present at the meeting were the Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Marshall Darryl Daniel, Acting Commissioner of Prisons, Carlos Corraspe, and Director of the Strategic Services Agency, Retired Brigadier General Anthony Phillips-Spencer. Minister of National Security, Fitzgerald Hinds, and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young also attended the meeting.