Mystar: Joint patrols working well together

There is no friction between police and soldiers, who continue to carry out joint patrols in the hills of Laventille, Sgt Wayne Mystar said on Wednesday. Speaking during Wednesday’s weekly media briefing at the Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain, Mystar said the two arms of law enforcement were working in tandem to preserve the peace in the troubled community.

The initiative, which was introduced at the beginning of March to stem the wave of murders occurring daily, was successful in bringing an immediate stop to the killings, he said. After almost three weeks without a murder, however, two men were gunned down in unrelated incidents on April 16 at Caledonia and Soogren Trace, Laventille. Mystar said the recent murders had now forced senior officials to review their operations in the area.

Asked about the re-emerging violence, Mystar admitted, “We are observing a pattern.” Pressed to say if the criminals had observed the joint patrols’ operations and were now working around them, Mystar said, “At times, the situation is one where you will not get any violent crime occurring in the area where joint operations are taking place, and times when you are going to get a spike.

“The joint army and police patrols are re-strategising and putting mechanisms in place to keep hot-spot areas at a manageable state and we are using all available resources.” Asked about the gruesome murders that are occurring around the country, Mystar appealed to the public for help.

“Based on information-gathering, we have gotten feedback that assisted us in dealing with some of these incidents. However, we are asking the public to continue to partner with us. We just need the information and our teams will pass it on to the necessary agencies,” he said.

Guardian