Crime surging in Tobago: 7 murders reported in 2024 so far

Tobago: Tobago has recorded a surge in crime when compared to previous years, with at least seven murders in this year. Former Commissioner of Police and political leader of the National Transformation Alliance, Garry Griffith, weighed on the situation and outlined the contributing factors in crime.

The former Commissioner asserted that when he was on duty, he did a lot of work for Tobago to ensure that the island remained safe. He said,” Tobagonians felt safe, they never felt so safe because of the things that we put in place from the national operations center, the commissioner’s Command Center, I was actually setting up a proper 999 system.”

Griffith explained that a call to 999 from Tobago goes to Trinidad, where officers then contact Tobago to report a crime. He said this shows the government’s incompetence in understanding how to secure Tobago.

He also mentioned the security systems at the ports of entry and added that the persons on the port have to walk through a scanner to make sure they do not have any illegal weapons or whatever. He added,”Car be driven onto the vessel without any checks and balances so somebody could walk with 20 guns put on a vehicle and gang drive onto Tobago.

Moreover, Griffith stated that he intends to implement these measures when the government changes next year after the general elections. He also indicated that a lockdown of the island would mean a safer Tobago.

He added,”The more Tobago crime continues to increase, the more resources have to leave Trinidad to go to Tobago, which will now minimize the resources in Trinidad that will cause crime to also escalate, so  once you lock down Tobago it makes it easier for you to assist in securing Trinidad and that ignorance and not understanding the importance of securing Tobago is by and large grow is what is causing the crime to escalate in Tobago.”

Griffith assured the public that he would work assiduously to ensure Tobago’s safety, which he said could be done in a few months.