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Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les is again call­ing for a se­ri­ous na­tion­al reck­on­ing on crime, warn­ing that fear, poor de­tec­tion and de­layed jus­tice are erod­ing pub­lic con­fi­dence and wors­en­ing the coun­try’s se­cu­ri­ty cri­sis and its rep­u­ta­tion in­ter­na­tion­al­ly.

She made the com­ment yes­ter­day, as she drew at­ten­tion to grow­ing in­ter­na­tion­al con­cern, trav­el ad­vi­sories, and the coun­try’s dam­aged rep­u­ta­tion abroad.

“I just re­turned from the Unit­ed States, at­tend­ing a con­fer­ence speak­ing about cli­mate change, set­ting up a dis­as­ter fund. And every sin­gle per­son who has any as­so­ci­a­tion with Trinidad and To­ba­go, peo­ple are ex­press­ing fear of com­ing home be­cause they are read­ing what’s hap­pen­ing in the news­pa­pers and the fear is there,” Beck­les said dur­ing an in­ter­view af­ter sign­ing the con­do­lence book for In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor De­oroop Teemal at Par­lia­ment yes­ter­day.