Trinidad and Tobago declares state of emergency after spate of killings over weekend

Port of Spain [Trinidad and Tobago], December 31 (ANI): Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency following killing incidents during the weekend added to what was already an exceptionally deadly year for the Caribbean nation, CNN reported.
In the emergency orders announced by the office of the Prime Minister Keith Rowley on Monday, the police personnel will be able to conduct search among people and premises without warrants and detain suspects for up to 48 hours, in an effort to reduce what the leader termed an "unacceptable high level of violent crime." However, no curfew has been placed by the authorities.
The decision came after several people were killed in the gun violence during the weekend, taking the murder toll in Trinidad and Tobago in 2024 to 623 - the highest level in police records dating back to 2013, according to CNN report.
According to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), Trinidad and Tobago which has a population of 1.5 million has one of the highest murder rates in the Caribbean, along with Jamaica and Haiti, while violent deaths in the region are nearly three times the global average. Police has warned they expect the amount of gang-related violent crime involving powerful assault weapons to rise.
While addressing a briefing on Monday, Acting Attorney General Stuart Young said that there had been 61 homicides so far in the month of December, according to CNN report. These included a shooting incident on Saturday, which involved a high caliber automatic weapon outside a police station that claimed the life of one person and an incident less than 24 hours later in which five people were killed and one injured in the Port of Spain area.
While speaking at the same briefing, Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds said two people were killed on Friday - one in a gang-related incident, another in a "domestic situation" - and 15 others killed in gun-related incidents since last Monday.
Hinds said police considered the latest wave of incidents as an "outbreak of gang violence," adding that the military would assist in implementing the state of emergency. Stuart Young said that the use of high-caliber firearms by criminal gangs had made the recent violence particularly concerning, resulting in declaration of state of emergency.
"There is very little chance of survival due to the velocity and the caliber of these weapons. This has been a major concern not only for us here in Trinidad and Tobago, but throughout the whole CARICOM region," Young said, referring to the regional Caribbean Community group of nations.
A significant amount of violent crime like murder, assault and kidnapping in Trinidad and Tobago is connected to criminal gang activity and narcotics trafficking, according to the US State Department. In July, the US State Department announced that its travel advisory for Trinidad and Tobago is at Level 3, advising US citizens to reconsider travel due to crime, according to CNN report.
General Stuart Young said the government was in touch with the US to discuss how to control the situation as many of the high-powered weapons come from the US. Notably, firearms are not made in Caribbean nations. However, more than 7,000 firearms were recovered from them between 2018 and 2022. According to GAO, nearly three-quarters of those came from the US. (ANI)