For­mer act­ing com­mis­sion­er of po­lice, Stephen Williams, said there is a flawed per­cep­tion by the two ma­jor po­lit­i­cal par­ties that a state of emer­gency (SoE) can be used to fight crime in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Williams, who served as a po­lice of­fi­cer for 41 years and was act­ing com­mis­sion­er from 2012-2018, says the time has come for the Gov­ern­ment and the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) to pur­sue mean­ing­ful and de­lib­er­ate crime fight­ing ini­tia­tives.

“SoE could nev­er be a strat­e­gy. I start­ed with the flawed process, flawed think­ing be­cause right now the present Gov­ern­ment has in fact fol­lowed the PNM with the per­cep­tion that an SoE can be a strat­e­gy…