media_artricles :: 2013

Professionals should emulate Jehue

Congrats are in order for the young athlete, Mr Jehue Gordon, on a spectacular win.

All was well when Trinidad and Tobago learned about the win. We felt the sense of pride which comes with being a “Trini”.” Our pride took us down memory lane with the Soca Warriors, and recently with Keshorn Walcott.

All was well until the PM congratulated the young man on his accomplishment. She was quoted as saying that “our athletes can compete with the best on the world stage”. Somehow, when I heard her statement. I was immediately offended.

I asked myself how is it that young, struggling athletes manage to hold their own and compete on the world stage while mature adults, men and women, many with professional titles, international degree collections, self- inflicted titles, and others with long list of letters behind their names, cannot perform on the local stage?

Had this shortcoming been restricted to persons who make a career out of politics, we could have attributed such to the pursuit of power. But we also find similar shortcomings in the medical profession, in policing, in the realm of law, engineering, management, planning and just about every other sphere one may wish to examine.

Mr Gordon’s win comes at a time when the country, we are told, is “at its darkest hour”.

I have said it before, and maintain, that the primary reason behind the killings can be ascertained by simply examining the pathetic detection rates of crimes by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, in particular murders.

As someone who has dealt with numerous criminals in the past, the absence of detection is the blueprint for individuals to become progressively emboldened. Petty thieves become career criminals in the absence of detection.

The problems can be seen from the top where the management of the TTPS is incompetent. A look at the stats provided by this organisation suggest that these men and women are working with a monthly quota.

Of course no one dares to criticise the TTPS, least of the politicians as they, themselves are clueless, with their intellectually bankrupt “100 day crime plans”.

The Second Division, the political arm of the organisation, exerts pressure on the top and recently even suggested that the organisation be run from the bottom up. Frighteningly, the individual making this suggestion is supposed to be a lawyer, confirming why grown, professional men and women cannot even perform on the local stage.

The heart of the crime problem, Trinidad and Tobago, can be located in the bowels of the TTPS, whose responsibilities include gathering information, detecting, making arrests, preserving evidence etc.

Until such time as the members of this organisation can be held accountable, crime will flourish, uninterrupted.

The members of the TTPS are the primary beneficiaries of the crime situation being what it is. Furthermore, they are not trusted in the any of the communities which they occupy. They have failed miserably in recognising that policing in a democratic state requires a relationship of trust between themselves and the community.

Our sincere hope is that more young men and women will follow in the footsteps of young Mr Jehue Gordon and do the nation proud. Until then, let’s just be practical and hope they remain alive.

Rudy Chato Paul, Sr

D’Abadie

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