Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les says she is pre­pared to work with the Gov­ern­ment to tack­le crime fol­low­ing the Bel­mont killings that left two-year-old Aki­ni Kafi, his fa­ther Aquil Kafi and An­tho­ny Wil­son dead.

In a state­ment yes­ter­day, Beck­les said crime had be­come a na­tion­al cri­sis that con­tin­ued to dev­as­tate fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties across Trinidad and To­ba­go.

“I main­tain the po­si­tion of the Op­po­si­tion that we stand ready to work with the Gov­ern­ment to ad­dress this scourge. The safe­ty of our cit­i­zens must come be­fore pol­i­tics, and the well-be­ing of our youth de­mands re­spon­si­ble lead­er­ship from all sides,” she said.