COPS ONLY BAD WITH TRAFFIC TICKETS

A FEW months ago, a bulky police officer stepped into my path as I drove off Churchill-Roosevelt Highway between St. Augustine Girls’ High School and the university campus.

The lawman was preoccupied with a document, which I soon found to be a traffic ticket he was issuing another motorist.

The armed officer and his colleague, outfitted with relevant gadgets, were dishing out tickets to motorists startled by a new traffic restriction.

As I stepped out of my vehicle, I could sense the disgust of fellow drivers, whose body language seemed to say: “Why de hell dey doh ketch the murderers instead?”

Indeed, the most effective police action is the issuance of traffic tickets, which the authorities report with glee even as the detection rate for murders and other bloody crimes languishes in single digits.

There are regular reports of cops handing out tickets for traffic violations in a land of bloody and ruthless crimes against innocent nationals.

Two weekends ago, when 15 people were killed, the rejoinder of police bosses to citizens was: “Prepare for inconvenience.”

That meant law-abiding citizens would endure frustrating traffic snarls as grim-looking officers leisurely examine drivers’ licences and insurance policies.

The tough-looking officers would bear menacing guns, none of which is targeted against cold-blooded killers and rapists.

Detaining motorists appears to be the kneejerk measure of the Police Service whenever there is outrage over a surge in crime.

The officers appear “bad” only for people who may have stepped too much on the gas.

Law enforcement seems incapable of arresting gangsters, even those who murder on a slow Sunday afternoon outside a popular eating place, in the middle of the country a minute away from a police station.

Virtually all home invasions and extortions go unpunished.

Several communities are besieged by night-time invaders.

But policemen are instead consumed with tickets for errant motorists.

There are seldom arrests following public attacks and assaults.

Reports by citizens about gang sleeper cells, drug transshipment and other major crimes are met with indifference.

But Canadian video-blogger Chris Must List easily accessed the underground thugs and told their stories – for which he was slapped with serious sedition charges.

There is a parade of sombre meetings of the National Security Council, followed by practised ominous statements from Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley.

The nation sees pictures of politicians and top brass of the protective services in serious session even as marauding criminals lay siege over the land.

Police chief Erla Christopher, who received top billing from the Police Service Commission, has employed a predecessor Stephen Williams as an advisor.

Intelligence gathering, CCTV cameras, police informers, and various human and technological resources are available to the authorities.

The Strategic Services Agency has millions of dollars worth of modern equipment and trained operatives.

Senior officers receive periodic refresher instruction.

And still Trinidad and Tobago is buried in criminal mayhem, with armed killers in search of their next hapless murder victim.

Entire communities are overwhelmed, wayside vendors and taxi men head home early, small businesses invest in costly security measures as they operate in terror.

More and more people define the circumstances as anarchy.

Political leaders emerge occasionally to deliver tedious warnings of a no-nonsense crackdown and of no stone being left unturned to capture the criminals.

And police officers are busily issuing traffic tickets.