A religious leader is urging Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher and National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds to speak out in order to reassure and console the public as fear shook the nation due to the increase in criminal activities.
Clive Dottin, a Seventh-Day Adventist preacher, recently asserted that no one feels secure anywhere because of violent house invasions, fatal robberies, and even a drive-by shooting on a highway across the country. He even claimed that locals were no longer leaving T&T in search of better employment; instead, they were attempting to avoid the criminal elements that were engulfing the nation.
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According to Dottin, families, and business owners have been looking for safe havens outside of the country as violent crime rates rise.
The appropriate authorities should now take authority back from the criminal groups, he claimed.
“The authorities have to confront the criminal elements, the local mafia … and let them know that we will not allow them to win this battle in terms of crime.”
Dottin asserted that he had heard from several individuals over the weekend in response to tales of awful house invasions at Bejucal and Aranguez, saying, “There is a level of fear in the society that is horrendous.”
“My analysis as I traveled all over the country for the past three days is that the criminal elements believe they are winning the battle and they are prepared to continue intimidating. They have no respect for politicians. They have very little respect for the police. They don’t care about people’s families and they are recruiting very young people. They have their underground training academies teaching young people how to shoot, and they feel they are large and in charge, and they believe they are about to win that battle to perpetrate crime across the country.”
Dottin urged Harewood-Christopher and the nation’s authorities to provide “assurances to the public and form a united front in terms of the Government, church, national security institutions, and the Opposition.”
“We need to show the criminal elements that we have courage, that we have faith in God, and we are prepared to confront them.”
He claimed that because we continue to work separately, we are losing the war against crime. However, he added, “It is time to unite.”
Dottin contends that the government also has to guarantee that children have access to positive activities.
The pastor disclosed that he has been getting calls recently from elderly people “who are living in absolute fear in this country.”
Dottin claimed that while some company owners were preparing to leave T&T, some householders had been barricading themselves inside their homes out of fear of criminality.
He asked localities to create neighborhood watch organizations and to attempt to stay out of situations where they may become victims.
He clarified that this meant limiting activities, not staying out too late, and taking safety measures to protect properties.
“Have trust in God. You must be intelligent, have bravery, pray without ceasing, avoid taking unwarranted risks, and be on guard at all times.
