Government Declares State of Emergency

A State of Emergency has been declared in Trinidad and Tobago. President of Trinidad and Tobago, Christine Kangaloo, on the advice of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, declared the State of Emergency on December 30th. The Government maintains this was the best course due to the significant increase in violent crimes, particularly those involving the use of high-powered illegal firearms. Speaking at Monday’s Media Conference, Acting Attorney General, Senior Counsel Stuart Young, and Minister of National Security, Fitzgerald Hinds, explained that the SOE became necessary due to the significant increase in violent crimes, particularly those involving the use of high-powered illegal firearms and their associated threat to public safety. Minister Young outlined the seriousness of the decision made under Section 8 of the Constitution. He said it resulted from intelligence provided by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service pertaining to activities by criminal gangs, including reprisal killings. "The criminal gangs, via the use of high-powered assault weapons and other illegal firearms in areas of Trinidad and possibly Tobago, are likely to immediately increase their brazen acts of violence in reprisal shootings on a scale so extensive that it threatens persons and will endanger public safety." The Acting AG reiterated that there is no intention at this time to enforce a curfew. He said the target of this National Public State of Emergency is those who engage in activities with criminal intent of endangering public safety through the use of illegal firearms. "The Police Service will be given the powers to search premises without warrants, to search persons without warrants who they have suspicions of carrying out criminal activities, a lot of it associated with illegal firearms, and also to detain persons for periods of time. The regulations are setting out the process and procedure, we are going to have a 48-hour holding period where persons can be held under these regulations; thereafter, a Magistrate or a senior police officer can make an order of detention for another seven days whilst evidence is being gathered with respect to persons held under the State of Emergency regulations." Giving probable cause statistics from the TTPS, Minister Hinds indicated as of December 26th, there were 551 incidents of murder with 614 victims. He further explained that 93 of them were incidents with more than one victim. There were 33 double homicides, eight triple homicides, four quadruple homicides, and one quintuple homicide, all of which contributed to the declaration of the Public Emergency. "It will give the Police Service, supported by the Defence Force, the leverage to fight back against these trends on your behalf, the law-abiding citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. The way the regulations are going to be structured, as you would have heard Minister Young elucidate, are intended to deal specifically with the lawless and the lawbreakers." Members of the public are being urged to rely on three main sources of information to decrease the possibility of misinformation: the Office of the Prime Minister - Communications, the Ministry of National Security, and the Office of the Attorney General.