VZCZCXRO7042
RR RUEHGR
DE RUEHSP #1205/01 3541956
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201956Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8880
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 3735
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PORT OF SPAIN 001205 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC KCRM SNAR SOCI TD
SUBJECT: TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: SERIOUS PUBLIC CONCERN ABOUT 
CRIME 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  With Christmas and the February 2008 
Carnival season approaching, Trinidad and Tobago is gripped 
by fear of crime, which, fueled by media frenzy, is perceived 
as out of control.  Many complain that the GOTT is powerless 
to do anything, or is unconcerned, criticizing the 
performance of recently re-appointed National Security 
Minister Martin Joseph and Police Commissioner Trevor Paul, 
who has been kept on for want of a replacement.  Although the 
GOTT is taking steps to reform its police force and institute 
community policing, public confidence in the police is 
lacking.  The roots of crime include the influx of drugs and 
weapons from South America, income disparities, a breakdown 
of traditional values, deficiencies in the judicial system, 
and a general culture of lawlessness reflected in a lack of 
basic civic consciousness.  The U.S. and other foreign 
governments assist the GOTT with training, expertise, and 
technical assistance, but absent a wholesale transformation 
of society and a revamping of the police, prosecution, 
judiciary, and prison system, as well as an effective system 
of protecting witnesses, the situation is not likely to 
improve soon.  End Summary. 
 
 
Latest Statistics 
----------------- 
 
¶2. (U) As of December 19, 2007, there had been 371 homicides 
during the year, of which 195 were deemed to be gang-related, 
and 12 kidnappings for ransom.  Statistics comparing various 
crimes from the period from January 1 through December 3 of 
2006 and the same period in 2007 are as follows: 
 
                          2006       2007      Percentage Change 
 
Kidnapping                175        155        -11 
 
Kidnapping for ransom      14         12        -14 
 
Robberies                5097       4381        -14 
 
Wounding and shooting     604        563         -7 
 
Sexual offenses           800        700        -13 
 
Burglaries and break-ins 4585       4394         -4 
 
Stolen Vehicles          1348       1573        +17 
 
What People Fear 
---------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Although the number of crimes (except homicide) is 
down slightly, the decrease is not enough to lend credence to 
claims by the Minister of National Security, Martin Joseph, 
that the situation is improving.  Virtually every day the 
three major daily newspapers carry a front page story of 
another grisly murder.  The nadir may have been the brutal 
rape and murder of a 16 year old schoolgirl on her way home 
from tutoring in November.  Her decomposing body was found by 
searching community members (who saw a flock of vultures) 
five days later, and the police reportedly dismissed the 
initial anxious inquiries of her father, telling him she had 
probably run off with a man. 
 
¶4. (SBU) There is a perception that, although some places are 
safer than others, no place is completely safe.  Recently 20 
bathers at Las Cuevas Beach, a popular destination, were 
threatened with dogs, a pistol, and a cutlass, and were 
robbed of their possessions in broad daylight.  A woman 
jogger was raped in early December in Port of Spain near a 
road well frequented by early morning runners.  Businesses 
are robbed and their owners murdered, and people are raped 
and killed during home invasions, including in rural areas 
that were previously free of all but minor crime.  Old timers 
say the situation is the worst they have ever seen.  Wealthy 
East Indians, Syrians and Chinese feel especially vulnerable, 
and avoid certain areas of Port of Spain entirely. 
Expatriates also say crime is worse than before, and send 
warnings to each other by the Internet.  Certain foreign 
companies are attempting to lower their employees' profiles 
by recalling their company-furnished luxury cars and issuing 
them more modest vehicles.  Although the fear of crime is 
probably disproportional to the likelihood of becoming a 
 
PORT OF SP 00001205  002 OF 004 
 
 
victim, the fear by itself is enough to crimp people's sense 
of security and enjoyment of life. 
 
What the GOTT is Doing 
---------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) When it concentrates on a specific area, such as 
kidnapping for ransom, the GOTT has achieved some success, 
reducing the number of such kidnappings for ransom from 58 in 
2005 to 17 in all of 2006, and 12 so far this year.  Part of 
this has been due to USG involvement in a high-profile case 
involving the kidnap and murder of an American citizen; 
criminals are reluctant to risk the relentless and dogged 
pursuit that is likely when the USG gets on a case.  Overall, 
fewer than 20 percent of all homicides are ever solved.  The 
solution rate for kidnappings, 45 percent, is better. 
 
¶6. (U) Under the tutelage of Professor Stephen Mastrofksi of 
George Mason University, the Trinidad and Tobago Police 
Service (TTPS) has initiated a series of reforms, including 
promotions based on merit rather than seniority, purchasing 
more vehicles, and building five modern model "community 
police" stations.  Thirty-nine retired investigators from 
Scotland Yard are providing advice and assistance to the 
Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT). 
However, concomitant modernization is required in the 
judiciary, which suffers from a backlog of cases, the 
prosecution, which often loses cases (many of which are 
presented by TTPS officers acting as prosecutors), and the 
prison system, which is overburdened and under funded. 
Although the Commissioner of Prisons claims to have a 
"restorative justice" program that, according to him, has 
reduced the rate of recidivism substantially, some critics 
still maintain that the prison system concentrates more on 
incarceration than on rehabilitation. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The GOTT has also created the Special Anti-Crime 
Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT), but this mixture of 
police and military does not yet have a clearly defined 
mission or a legal basis on which to operate, and its 
creation is said to have negatively affected the morale of 
the TTPS, because members of SAUTT are paid more and have 
better equipment and weapons.  In addition, the GOTT has 
purchased a blimp with cameras and radar that periodically 
drones over the city, although this "Eye in the Sky" is 
widely derided as an expensive but ultimately useless toy. 
(Note:  It may be more effective at detecting illegal 
maritime traffic than deterring common crime; the GOTT has 
had some success in interdicting shipments of narcotics.) 
 
Public's Opinion of GOTT Efforts 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) The most charitable view the public takes is that 
the GOTT sincerely wants to deal with the issue of crime but 
is clueless about how to proceed.  Another more cynical view 
is that, having won the recent elections and thus being 
assured of five more years in power, the current 
administration, headed by the People's National Movement, 
simply does not care.  There has been widespread criticism of 
the re-appointment of Martin Joseph as Minister of National 
Security.  Joseph was recently ridiculed in the press for 
stating in a speech that fighting crime was more difficult 
than he had originally thought it would be, although the same 
critics often suggest that crime reduction is a simple 
matter.  There has also been grumbling about the retention of 
Trevor Paul, who was asked to stay on fter his retirement as 
Commissioner of Police, because a suitable replacement has 
not yet been found.  There is a common consensus that some 
police officers are corrupt, and that the police are, by and 
large, rarely present when and where needed, are not to be 
trusted, and are of little help in assisting victims of crime 
or investigating and solving crimes. 
 
Roots of the Crime Problem 
-------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Older citizens of T and T say that when they were 
children, standards were higher, schools were better, parents 
were stricter, and the entire community kept an eye on young 
people.  While people have been saying this for thousands of 
years, this does not mean that their comments in this case 
are mistaken.  However, the roots of T and T's crime problem 
are far deeper than this. 
 
 
PORT OF SP 00001205  003 OF 004 
 
 
¶10. (SBU)   T and T is only a few miles from Venezuela, and 
is a prime transshipment point for illegal narcotics.  Those 
who handle the drugs are paid in a combination of drugs, 
cash, and weapons, so the country is awash in illegal 
firearms, including semiautomatic pistols, shotguns, and 
assault rifles.  More than half of all murders, 195 of 368 as 
of December 19, have been gang related, as rivals settle 
scores and compete for business and territory.  There is also 
a great deal of money, due to the gas and oil boom, and a 
wide disparity between the wealthiest and the poorest (17% of 
the population still lives below the poverty level), coupled 
with a desire among some youth to, in the words of rapper 50 
Cent, "Get rich or die trying."  Contracts for make-work 
projects under the Unemployment Relief Program (URP) and 
Community Environmental Protection and Enhancement Program 
(CEPEP) are a lucrative source of income, with those in 
charge of a particular project listing "ghost workers" and 
skimming the payroll, and contractors for these programs are 
sometimes killed to create a vacancy. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The detection rate for homicide is below 20 
percent.  Even when someone is arrested and charged, his case 
is often thrown out because the police officer fails to 
appear or has not assembled and presented an adequate case. 
In addition, several key witnesses have been murdered before 
they could testify, and others have been intimidated into 
silence, or have disappeared out of fear.  There is also an 
apparent fear by juries of bringing guilty verdicts against 
certain notorious persons charged with serious crimes such as 
kidnapping and murder.  The judicial system is clogged with 
backlogs, and offenders are often released on bail and then 
commit more crimes.  The police are rarely seen patrolling in 
public and enforcing laws.  They are slow to appear when 
called.  Complainants who go to a police station often report 
that they were treated in a lackadaisical manner.  Police 
morale is low, and they lack modern technology and training 
(for example, there is no computerized vehicle registration 
system).  Furthermore, many in the community fear the police, 
who are often accused of using excessive violence, being 
quick on the draw, and making arbitrary and capricious 
arrests of innocent persons.  In addition, a high ranking 
officer recently alleged that there was widespread corruption 
involving drugs and weapons among the TTPS in the south of 
Trinidad. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Finally, there is a culture of impunity.  A 
columnist recently observed that the GOTT had passed laws 
against littering, loud music in vehicles, illegal parking, 
drug use, and domestic violence, none of which were being 
enforced.  Customers in stores routinely jump the line, 
motorists drink and drive, and barrel down the shoulder of 
the road to pass a long line of bumper to bumper traffic, 
then force their way back in, passengers toss garbage out of 
car windows, drivers stop suddenly at will and block an 
entire lane of traffic, and pedestrians sprint across a busy 
highway within sight of a pedestrian overpass or a crosswalk 
with signals.  As a minister at the funeral of a young farmer 
shot and killed by bandits while trying to protect his family 
said, when people disobey minor laws and nothing happens, 
they realize they can violate virtually any law with 
impunity. 
 
How the US is Helping GOTT Combat Crime 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) Regardless of the overall lack of civic 
consciousness, inefficiency and corruption in the police, and 
the perceived fecklessness of the Minister of National 
Security and the Commissioner of Police, there are a number 
of honest police who want to protect and serve the community. 
 The International Narcotics and Law Enforcement program 
(INL) provides equipment and training to law enforcement 
agencies, and the office of the Legal AttachQ works with the 
GOTT to investigate and prosecute crimes involving American 
citizens.  The Drug Enforcement Agency works to indict and 
extradite drug traffickers with a proven connection to crimes 
with a link to the United States.  The Bureau of Diplomatic 
Security also provides a number of anti-terrorism training 
programs to GOTT law enforcement personnel. 
 
¶14. (SBU) There is also a long-term program underway to 
transform the operating procedures of the TTPS, as noted in 
paragraph 6.  Regardless of how much the police improve their 
methodology and technology, the overall situation is not 
likely to improve soon; the public must learn to take an 
 
PORT OF SP 00001205  004 OF 004 
 
 
active role in fighting crime, and must also learn to trust 
and work with the police again.  In addition, following the 
classic "broken window" theory, people must be fined or 
otherwise sanctioned for breaking small laws before they 
become emboldened to commit more serious crimes. 
 
Hope at Last? 
------------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) Comment: History contains examples of countries 
that have gradually developed a more orderly and disciplined 
way of life, and have eventually turned themselves around. 
If improvements in the police force can be combined with 
reform of the judicial and prison system, the passage and 
enforcement of new laws (such as DNA identification and the 
use of wiretaps), and a gradual shift in societal attitudes, 
the current situation may eventually be improved.  However, 
it is likely to be a long and uphill battle.  End Comment. 
AUSTIN