Founder and di­rec­tor of the Black Agen­da Project and chair­man of the Na­tion­al Li­brary and In­for­ma­tion Sys­tem Au­thor­i­ty (NALIS), Dr David Muham­mad, is hop­ing that the Zones of Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions (ZOSOS) will not be used in a racial­ly dis­crim­i­na­to­ry man­ner or to stig­ma­tise com­mu­ni­ties.

“If this is done prop­er­ly, then, for ex­am­ple, com­mu­ni­ties like Laven­tille have had sig­nif­i­cant­ly few­er mur­ders over the last eight years than many oth­er com­mu­ni­ties across Trinidad that may still have a pos­i­tive im­age and rep­u­ta­tion in­tact, as they have not been neg­a­tive­ly la­belled. So, there must be the strength in the ma­chin­ery of the sys­tem to not en­gage in racial pro­fil­ing, youth stereo­typ­ing, and res­i­den­tial-area dis­crim­i­na­tion. If this can be done with­out these im­ped­i­ments in the process, then I be­lieve it can work well.”

The mat­ter will be brought to Par­lia­ment to­mor­row and will re­place the State of Emer­gency, which is legal­ly due to come to an end by the end of the month. The de­tails of the zones and how they are to be po­liced will be ven­ti­lat­ed dur­ing the de­bate.