PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Trinidad and Tobago’s Acting Attorney General Stuart Young says a public state of emergency (SOE) was declared due to the threat to national security posed by reprisal killings and the use of high-powered weapons.

Speaking during a press briefing on Monday shortly after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley declared the SOE, Young sought to assure the nation that the country’s economy would not be impacted as there would be no curfew and business would continue.

Young explained that the SOE was declared based on information provided to them by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), adding that there were elements that could not be divulged.

However, Rowley, who is also head of the National Security Council, was absent at the press conference.

Asked about his absence, Young said it would not be “appropriate” for him to be the one to explain details of the SOE.

“The calling of the state of emergency was based on information regarding threats provided to us – National Security Council – about retaliation by criminal elements, and because of the use of certain types of weapons. We are seeing brazen behaviour by these criminal elements in the use of illegal firearms, which necessitated the calling of this public state of emergency.”

He further stated that the information provided indicated “very clearly a continued level of planning and execution by the criminal element utilising these illegal firearms”.

Young noted that there had been 61 homicides in December, with approximately 623 for the year to date. He also expressed concern about the high-calibre weapons being used in murders, including the 5.56, 7.62, AR-15, and AK-47 rifles.

The minister stated that the public state of emergency would specifically target criminals who use illegal, high-velocity firearms.

He noted that, unlike the SOEs in 1990 and 2011, this SOE would not involve a curfew or affect public meetings.

This SOE is specifically aimed at addressing the “brazen acts” of criminality, he said.

Young added that, under this SOE, the TTPS would have the authority to search premises and individuals without warrants as well as detain people for specified periods.

He explained that the police could detain individuals for a 48-hour holding period, after which a senior magistrate could extend the detention for seven days for the gathering of further information.

There would also be the power to stop and search anyone, he stated.

Young added that the Defence Force would be on standby to assist the TTPS and would have powers, under the SOE, and a tribunal would be established.

Meanwhile, former national security minister and former police commissioner, Gary Griffith, says a state of emergency was not going to solve the rising crime rate in the country, stating that it is a stop-gap measure and should not be used as a crime-fighting tool.

“If it is true that a state of emergency has been called because of an escalation in crime, it again shows the double standard and hypocrisy of this Government because I recall when the Peoples Partnership Administration called a state of emergency because of a similar concern, they attacked the then Government and stated a state of emergency should not be used as a crime-fighting tool.”

Griffith said it was not a state of emergency that was needed to tackle crime, but the implementation of proper policies and technologies.

“Being a previous minister of national security, national security advisor, and commissioner of police I can again state similar that a state of emergency is and should not be used as a crime-fighting tool. It is a stop-gap measure, it is like putting a plaster on a sore. It is not going to deal with the situation,” he said.

He said it was time the Government accepted that its minister of national security and commissioner of police were not competent to handle the situation.

“All you are doing now is giving them more powers to affect the constitutional rights of citizens. Yes, it would peg back criminals to prevent them from being involved, but for how long? What is required is not the plaster on the sore, but putting the effective tools — people, policies, technology, unit — all of these things that would have been utilised in 2019 to 2021 that saw the highest reduction in violent crimes in 17 years, where public trust and confidence in the police was 59 per cent and crime was the number four concern behind health, education, and the economy,” he said.