According to Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, the government would “redouble all efforts” to combat crime. He claims that the initiatives will attempt to minimize “these violent outbursts, will hunt down and disarm the perpetrators, and will make operational adjustments so that the state security services can act with dispatch against the violent cohort of our national population.”
Dr. Rowley previously made the following remarks, “The current violent crime spree will not be tolerated.”
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He further added, “Notwithstanding the persistent efforts of the various state machinery, the selection of violence as a way of life, the love affair and glamorization of firearms and the wanton disregard for human life in Trinidad and Tobago has now gone beyond concerning to the ridiculous.”
According to the prime minister, the “intractable situation” necessitates that law-abiding individuals’ right to peace and safety be granted precedence above the freedom of the lawless and the violent minority who operate with impunity.
President Christine Kangaloo of Trinidad and Tobago has issued a call to action for the 100 volunteers in the country’s volunteer defense force.
By taking this action, the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force (TTDF) will be better equipped to provide operational support to the Police Service (TTPS) and increase public safety from the pre-Christmas season through the Carnival time in 2024.
A declaration issued on October 30th said, “Now, therefore, I, Christine Carla Kangaloo, President as aforesaid, hereby call out to duty, one hundred members of the Trinidad and Tobago Volunteer Defense Force for a period of one hundred and twenty-three days with effect from October 30, 2023, to February 29, 2024, to strengthen the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force capability towards the fulfillment of operational support to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service in the provision of a safe and secure environment during the pre-Christmas season to the 2024 Carnival period.”
According to Section 238(1) of the Defense Act, Chapter 14:01, the President may summon the Volunteer Defense Force, or any part of it, for actual military service with their weapons and ammunition in support of the civil authority in any situation where a riot, disturbance of the peace, or other emergency requiring such service occurs, or is, in the President’s opinion, likely to occur, and in either case, is beyond the civil authorities’ ability to suppress, prevent, or deal with.
