Political Scientist Professor Hamid Ghany says the move to extend the ongoing State of Emergency is necessary to give Government more time to combat crime.

Speaking on Trinidad and Tobago Today, he said overcoming violent crime requires long-term, sustained policies rather than short-term interventions, but pointed to legislative setbacks that led to the current approach.

“You are not going to overcome violent crime in a simple situation of a six and a half months period. The State did attempt to go to Parliament with legislation that was mimicking the Jamaican legislation on ZOSOs, Zones of Special Operations, and I think that the inability to get the special majority in the Senate back in January created the preconditions for this, which perhaps is more excessive than the ZOSOs would have been.”