GARVIN HEERAH
A very wide range of criminal activities can be conducted transnationally in an organised fashion, and new forms of crime emerge constantly as global and local conditions change over time. The implied definition of transnational organised crime encompasses virtually all profit-motivated criminal activities with international implications. (UN convention on Transnational Organised Crime 2003)
Research in this country and abroad has proven that most organised criminal activity come to the attention of the police only when they take pains to proactively investigate. What T&T needs to note is that the ability to detect organised crime is contingent on a police force with the resources to take on this additional work beyond the considerable case load involved in responding to citizens’ complaints.
It also requires a police force with the skills to conduct long-term, often clandestine investigations. And it requires a police force able to resist the corrupting influence of organised crime groups whose resources may far exceed those of law enforcement.
In many parts of the world, and right here in T&T, one or more of these elements is missing so very little organised crime activity is registered. Even in countries with plenty of capacity, the attention given to any particular area of organised crime differs. The definitions of crime can also vary based on local values. As a result, criminal justice statistics may reflect political priorities more than the state of the underlying problem.
There have been changes in the trends of transnational organised crime generally. Much of the discussion to date has been conducted by law enforcement authorities and, for reasons described above, they have been deeply concerned about the nature of the groups involved in organised crime.
There appears to be general consensus that both highly structured and loosely structured organisations are involved in transnational organised crime and a number of authorities have argued that the former are losing out to the latter. As we progress slowly through these treacherous challenging economic times, fuelled by global developments and shortfalls, it is evident that within T&T there is now a significant rise in transnational organised criminal activity, especially for organisations to stay afloat, it can be easily defined as: “How do we continue to make money.”
The loose networks that go by through day to day activities can be a reference to the mutable commercial ties between buyers and sellers of contraband in illicit markets here in T&T.
Human beings seem to have a natural tendency to self-organise and do so spontaneously when no higher authority provides order and when proper enforcement and monitoring is weak. People, groups and organisations or activities that the state fails to regulate tend to fall under the control of local actors who then vigorously defend this power from reacquisition and funding by the state.
In T&T we have seen the embryonic development where there exist, without the formal apparatus of government and access to the courts, of local dons, gang leaders and “community leaders” who are compelled to settle disputes with violence, or at least the credible threat of violence. These dons and “community leaders,” and the organisations they build, constitute the hierarchical groups most commonly associated with organised crime in the public domain.
What must be drawn to the attention of our authorities, both governmental and law enforcement, is that this form of organised crime grows in geographic areas and communities that the state has neglected, such as impoverished, under-provided areas, and socially displaced communities.
Socially excluded communities frequently respond to the lack of opportunity by creating their own sources of credit, job access and security. Unregulated, unmonitored and un-policed, these schemes can devolve into extortion, labour racketeering and protection rackets. What began as efforts of a marginalised community to protect and provide for itself can transform over time into a source of predation, threatening their own community and society at large.
In T&T we have seen that these organised crime groups are extremely territorial, guarding their turf jealously. They graduate their activities as tools and the muscle of the hierarchical level of the TOC triangle. So the legitimate and illegitimate business enterprises that camouflage their trading, money laundering, illegal trades and corruption, have gravitated to using them as the executors of criminal activity to maintain control, instil fear and unite with heavy monetary gain, to prevent the backlash of robberies, kidnapping and extortion from the funnels of their financial depth.
This well-oiled machinery is the underlying threat that faces our nation’s national security planners. Therefore it is extremely important that the matter be prioritised on the agenda of national security and a focused, concentrated effort that is all encompassing, be urgently undertaken.
Failure to move an operational plan to the front burner could very well see a further spiralling out of control of crime and criminality in this country. The economic environment is not expected improve anytime soon, as we all embrace the intent of macro-economic recovery, it is equally important to attack the heart of the organism—transnational organised crime.
• Garvin Heerah, former head of the National Operations Centre, is an expert in the Safe City Concept and Homeland Security Solutions and a module leader with Anglia Ruskin UK