UN donates 2 drones to Defence Force to combat crime

Reporter

carisa.lee@cnc3.co.tt

Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds believes that the addition of two drones to the arsenal of the national security apparatus will go a long way towards curbing crime. He said this yesterday at the ministry’s Abercromby Street headquarters, when the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) handed over the devices.

The two drones were given to the Defence Force, and Hinds believes that the equipment will enhance operational effectiveness and public safety efforts in T&T.

“I’ve seen myself as Minister of National Security some of the practical uses and benefits of the use of drones in our fight against crime,” he said.

Chief of Defence Staff Air Vice Marshal Darryl Daniel explained that the drones, which are equipped with high-resolution cameras and thermal imaging capabilities, will enable the Defence Force to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions effectively.

“The ability to detect potential threats from the air while maintaining a safe distance is invaluable in scenarios where ground access may be limited and challenging,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hinds said police have noticed that criminals have a preferred firearm, the AR-15, and other high-powered weapons.

“Within recent times in Trinidad and Tobago, there have been heightened reports of gang-related activities with an increasing trend to multiple victim homicides. Law enforcement authorities have indicated as well that they have observed a preference for the AR-15,” he said.

Hinds said statistics showed that out of the 555 murders recorded for the year so far, 250 or 45.1 per cent of those killings were classified as gang-related. The minister added that 87 per cent of the 250 murders were carried out with the use of illicit firearms.

However, he said, there had been a heightened level of patrols in communities. “We have provided them with vehicles, we have provided them with increased manpower, we have provided them with the resources they need and it is the TTPS that must impose itself on these circumstances in the interest of public safety and security,” he said.

The minister said he understood that different types of crime required different approaches from law enforcement.

“So joint patrols out there in the city centres bring a certain type of comfort to the population that is traumatised. It is also a deterrent to criminals to go where the police and soldiers are, but that does not necessarily deal with the guy who already has a gun and will creep along the back fence to kill someone in Belmont. So that too requires a different type of policing and it’s the use of drones and it is the use of other policing techniques,” the minister explained.

As he spoke, another man was shot dead at Gloster Lodge Road. He has been identified as 31-year-old Christopher Timothy of Mentor Alley, Laventille. The father of three was shot twice.

Belmont residents have renewed a call for a police post in the area.

On Tuesday, Nefta “Nappy” Charles was gunned down in St Barbs and days before, three men were murdered along Belmont Circular Road. Hinds said the two drones would be used to curb the presence of illegal guns and ammunition but would require a different type of policing.

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