HomeNewsTrinidad and Tobago Struggling to Put Brakes on Rising Homicide Rate
NEWS

Trinidad and Tobago Struggling to Put Brakes on Rising Homicide Rate

CARIBBEAN / 21 SEP 2022 BY PETER APPLEBY EN

Trinidad and Tobago has registered well over 400 homicides so far this year, continuing a long period of escalating violence that appears to have left authorities at a loss.

Among the latest victims were two men shot dead while walking near their home on September 19 in Morvant, a town east of the capital city, Port of Spain, according to West Indies and Caribbean News.

A few days earlier, a man was gunned down in a car park in the Maloney area of Trinidad while yet another was shot to death at a bar in the Claxton Bay area.

SEE ALSO: Why Are Trinidad and Tobago's Gangs Becoming More Violent?

Trinidad and Tobago has recorded 414 murders so far this year -- a 40 percent rise compared to the same point last year -- Trinidad Daily Express reported on September 12.

The dual-island nation had unofficially passed the 400 homicide milestone at the beginning of September. At the time, Acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob said he could neither confirm nor deny the murder rate, claiming he hadn’t yet seen the official figures. 

Two days later, however, Jacob cited the milestone as the reason why the police required greater support and more initiatives to tackle crime, noting that the internationally-backed Gang Reduction and Community Empowerment (GRACE) Project, could help “make the necessary change” to reduce murders in the country.

InSight Crime Analysis

Trinidad and Tobago’s climbing homicide rate is being attributed to increasingly violent gangs fighting over a range of criminal economies. But it is unclear in what timeframe policies like Project GRACE could make any meaningful difference.

In 2020, 205 of the 393 murders registered in the country were credited to gangs, according to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). And with this year’s murder total already far outpacing 2020, gang violence is certainly worsening.

Gang activity has been linked to multiple criminal economies in the country, including illegal quarrying, organized robbery, marijuana, human smuggling, and illegal gambling among many others.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of the Caribbean

The country's location creates additional complications. The Global Organized Crime Index noted that Trinidad and Tobago is a well-established destination country for heroin and cocaine from Venezuela and Guyana, while the country’s northern port, Chaguaramas, serves as a major launching pad for cocaine to Europe. The ongoing Venezuelan crisis has “exacerbated Trinidad and Tobago’s arms-trafficking market,” claims the report. And the country’s intelligence body, the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), estimated recently that some 12,000 guns circulate in the country.

These elements have led to an increasingly turbulent criminal landscape as new “more volatile” gangs attempt to establish themselves and gain control of these valuable economies. Tunapuna, a district less than 20 kilometers from Port of Spain, is now largely controlled by gangs, the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian recently claimed.

In an attempt to counter this worsening outlook, the country is enacting anti-gang initiatives, including the aforementioned GRACE Project. Launched in May, the project aims to strengthen the police's “community-based policing initiatives” to generate greater trust from local communities. This is sorely needed as research has found that police are largely considered “untrustworthy" and that people are unwilling to cooperate with them "out of fear that local officers are corrupt and the offenders will retaliate.”

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COCAINE / 20 JUN 2022

Gustavo Petro will be Colombia's next president. Cocaine, Venezuela, deforestation - criminal challenges face him in droves.

CARTEL OF THE SUNS / 2 MAY 2022

In 2020, the US Department of Justice released a bombshell indictment charging sitting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and other senior…

AYOTZINAPA / 6 OCT 2022

Mexico's army is being given more public security responsibilities, despite its human rights abuses.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…