By Darcel Choy Saturday, September 29 2012

National Security Minister Jack Warner yesterday promised he will go after child abusers and human traffickers in his fight against crime.

He disclosed his plan while addressing the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) graduation ceremony at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Sports and Physical Education Centre in St Augustine.

Warner shared an experience he had last Saturday when he visited a doctor’s office and met a 13- year-old mother of two.

“The first one she had when she was ten, I did not believe that would happen in this country. We have to find those persons wherever they are and deal with them,” he said.

He told the 800 graduates that yesterday morning he came face to face with persons who were trafficking others into the country to be sex slaves.

“I am going after them too because they cannot escape. You don’t understand how the country has fallen, you don’t understand everything in this country seems to have fallen apart and we have been asked to fix it in a mere 37 months, heaven help us,” he said.

Warner pointed out that yesterday marked 19 days in which no murders have been committed in Laventille since soldiers were assigned to help the police protect the community, and also noted there were no killings between Thursday and yesterday.

Warner said in the fight against crime there were two kinds of initiatives: a hard and soft one. He explained a hard initiative was prison and a soft one was programmes like the CCC.

“A programme that gives you hope, that gives you guidance to stay away from criminal activity. A programme that helps break the vicious cycle that feeds on the criminal world. A programme like this gives you a better appreciation for life and the community,” he said.

He promised the graduates that during the 2012/2013 Budget debate in Parliament next Friday they will hear the plans he has for the programme including increasing the stipend that is given to trainees. The trainees are paid a stipend of $70 per day during the six-month programme.

“When I begin to speak in the Parliament on the Budget debate on Friday you would hear that this CCC is designed to play an active role in the fight against crime. You will hear in Parliament some of the plans we have for the CCC, not only in terms of the work that you are doing but in terms of giving you different locations for offices from which you can administer the programme. You will be told in the debate that it is time for you to get another permanent home of your own with much more land,” he said.

Warner said he will also reduce the age of persons entering the programme from 18 to 16 and promised the programme’s director Major Cheryl Richardson that they will meet next week to discuss what else can be done for the CCC in the short, medium and long term.