00:00And Minister in the Ministry of Housing, Philip Alexander, is calling on residents in PNM-held areas to petition for
00:07a zone of special operations.
00:09Alexander says the legislation is a tool to tackle gang violence, the drug trade and contraband, and he argues that
00:16communities most at risk should have access to it.
00:19But his comments come amid a wider political debate over how the legislation should be used.
00:25Charlotte Kisto reports.
00:28Minister in the Ministry of Housing, Philip Alexander, is encouraging residents in PNM-held constituencies to petition for a zone
00:35of special operations.
00:36He says if enough residents are signed on, he will take their request to the Prime Minister.
00:42And I'm telling all the constituents of all of the PNM-Hotspot constituencies, if you are interested in getting a
00:49zone of special operations, reach out to me, 702-7445, it spells 702-10, and we will do a petition.
00:56And once we get sufficient numbers, I will take the petition before the Honorable Prime Minister and say, boss, the
01:02people of Port of Spring, North St. Vance, West, say North Churchill will want a special operations, and she will
01:06make her decisions then, because she's the Prime Minister.
01:09Alexander is also dismissing criticism of the government's approach and saying communities should not be prevented from seeking additional security
01:16measures.
01:18She actually took the football out of the game.
01:21She's playing chess while the other side playing checkers.
01:24They wanted to bring racist rhetoric, talking about apartheid.
01:28She said, okay, nobody's forcing it on you.
01:31I think there's a difference between this and the apartheid that you want to talk about.
01:34Nobody's forcing it on anybody.
01:36And if you are in charge of a constituency, you say you're going to block those constituents from having security.
01:42It's not the Prime Minister blocking them in.
01:44The Prime Minister is just not going down in the mud with the PNM anymore.
01:48He says a special operations bill is intended to give the government another tool to tackle serious criminal activities.
01:55That is government, this Prime Minister is doing everything in their power to end the drug trade, end the contraband,
02:00end the madness of the gang violence.
02:02And this is a perfect tool for that.
02:04And who don't want it, you don't have to take it.
02:06Asked whether the approach could be considered governance for all, Alexander says the country's normal national security apparatus would remain
02:14in place.
02:15He argues the proposed measure would provide an additional lay of protection for communities he says are most at risk.
02:23Absolutely.
02:24It's not like she's going to withdraw all of the policing and all of the normal national security apparatus.
02:29She's not.
02:30But this is a special tool that can protect communities most at risk.
02:36And the communities, ironically, most at risk, you spoke about, you spoke about it, at PNM Health Constituencies.
02:42The special operations bill is aimed at establishing a framework for special operations in designated areas as the government continues
02:50its response to violent crime.
02:52Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
02:55Those stories bring us to tonight's People Meter.
02:57We ask, do you believe people in PNM-controlled constituencies would want their areas to be special operations zones?
03:06To vote, text yes or no to the number 766-4886.
03:12Or 766-4-TV6.
03:14We'll have the results for you at the end of this newscast.
03:17We'll have to get started.
03:19We'll have to get started.
03:20We'll be back.
03:21We'll have to get started.
03:21We'll have to put down the close pockets.
03:21Mmm.
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