The competence, or lack thereof, displayed by the T&T Police Service has become the main focus of criticism in respect to the Shannon Banfield murder.
Even when the TTPS very quickly posted photographs of two young men said to be of interest in the investigation, some cautious citizens raised the problem of implying that these individuals were suspects in what was already an emotionally charged matter.
One of the men, 20-year-old Matthew Maharaj, was released on Saturday night and he is now, understandably, worried about his future prospects in a society where mere gossip can attain the standard of gospel truth, especially when the calumny fits people’s preconceived prejudice.
Additionally, the investigative procedures of the police officers are being questioned, especially in respect to their failure to get video footage from the company where Ms Banfield’s decomposing corpse was found.
The owner is asserting that he has not tried to prevent the police from getting the footage, while Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams has said that the TTPS had to follow the law with respect to demanding the tapes and didn’t get the owner’s cooperation.
But while all this is certainly valid, the issue of the root causes of T&T’s high homicide rate must also be addressed. By “root causes” we do not mean vague and general factors but specific policies which have provided incentives towards lawlessness.
Ms Banfield’s murder has aroused particular dread and condemnation because, on the face of it, she seems to have been killed while simply doing a normal activity—shopping in broad daylight in a busy place. However, the fact remains that the vast majority of murders are not arbitrary, and even less so when the victims are female.
In this latter category of homicide, the women usually are very familiar, and indeed almost always on intimate terms, with their killers. This is why investigations into the murders of women are relatively easier, which makes the police’s lack of progress in respect to Ms Banfield all the more dismal.
Be that as it may, however, female victims constitute ten per cent of all homicide victims and the number of women murdered in domestic violent incidents—the highest category of homicide for female victims—has not increased at the same rate as the overall murder toll, which has spiralled from an average of 100 to 400 persons annually. And here is where we come to the issues of specific and concrete root causes of crime.
Inasmuch as the cultural traits of this society have not significantly changed in the past decade, the astronomical surge in the murder rate must, logically, have come from some change in the criminal environment.
Undoubtedly, the increase in murders can be traced to the rise in gang rivalry—a new category of murder which also explains the drop in detection rates, since gang killers might not be arrested before they are themselves killed by rivals. But what caused this increase in gang-related murders 13 years ago?
It might be traced directly to drug trafficking, if gang members were now being paid in guns as well as cash; it might be the politically sanctioned takeover of the URP by so-called community leaders; it might be make-work projects being given energy-boom budgets of several hundred million dollars, hence providing incentives for murders; it might be all of this, as well as other factors.
Whatever the cause or causes, unless these conditions are addressed politically through stern and non-populist policy changes, the most efficient police force in the world can only play catch-up.
