00:00The opposition chief Wep is calling on the police commissioner to state why laws such as the Anti-Gang Act
00:06could not have been used instead of the declaration of a closed area in Maloney.
00:11And that's not all the opposition had to say on the matter during their media briefing earlier today.
00:17Jewel Brown reports.
00:19Tell us, tell the people of Maloney why the Anti-Gang Act is not sufficient for you to function.
00:31Opposition chief Wep Marvin Gonzalez's call for answers from police commissioner Alistair Guevara the day after an order was issued
00:38declaring the Maloney Buildings Housing Development, Maloney Gardens, Maloney, a closed area with a 9 a.m. to 5 p
00:45.m. curfew.
00:46The wide powers given to police officers under the Anti-Gang Act, the Criminal Law Act, the Home Invasion Act,
00:54the Offenses Against the Persons Act, the Dangerous Drug Act, the Firearms Act, Criminal Law Act, the Interception and Communications
01:02Act.
01:02Tell us, what about those pieces of legislation that somehow is insufficient for the police to function effectively to tackle
01:15the issue of crime and criminality in Trinidad and Tobago?
01:19During a media conference, the police commissioner said the relevant threshold for the declaration of the first closed area under
01:27the act was met.
01:28Opposition senator and senior counsel, Faris Al-Rawi, fielded a question from TV6 News about something else the police commissioner
01:36said.
01:36In terms of the issue of advance notice versus persons having an understanding of what being in a closed area
01:45and the curfew would mean for them.
01:47How do you balance those two things?
01:50Sure. Well, I joined with MP Robinson Regis and with the commissioner of police that it would be idiotic to
01:57announce I'm coming to regions, you know, A, B and C, you know, districts 1, 3 and 4.
02:04You can't do that. Obviously, the element of surprise is perfectly legitimate and justifiable.
02:09Our complaint has nothing to do with that. Law enforcement must have the element of surprise.
02:16However, Senator Al-Rawi made reference to certain provisions in the Special Operations Act.
02:22No politician should be vetting a policeman or member of the defense force or telling you what to put in
02:28a report.
02:28That is a breach of the Constitution and the separation of powers that ought to happen.
02:35So we take no issue with the element of surprise.
02:38If it is to be done, so be it. We support it.
02:42The question is, are we ready for its operationalization?
02:46Is it being carried out within the law?
02:48And are we in our constitutional safe zone?
02:51The MP for Maloney, Camille Robinson Regis, expressed her concerns for who she said were the many good people in
02:57Maloney as she claimed the cordon went beyond Maloney Gardens to certain areas close by.
03:03From my reading and also looking at World War II films, when the Gestapo and Hitler were first bringing Jews
03:17into closed areas, that was the first thing that they did.
03:22They started in a small concentrated area and started and then eventually it spread to large swathes of the country.
03:34And it's a similar situation.
03:37Very, very similar.
03:39And that is, that is very frightening for us in Trinidad and Tobago.
03:44While the government has said that all the relevant safeguards are in the Special Operations Act, Senator Alwari said that
03:51it is set to be challenged in court, a challenge that could go all the way to the Privy Council.
03:58Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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