BY NALINEE SEELAL and RHONDOR DOWLAT Saturday, September 20 2008

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Another record has been set in Trinidad and Tobago, not for sports but for murders as the toll yesterday crossed last year’s total of 383 to hit a high of 387.

The statistic has Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert concerned even as he again gave an assurance that the Police Service was doing everything in its power to curtail the killing spree.

Twelve persons were murdered between Sunday and yesterday, with two killings recorded in Barataria and Sangre Grande over the last 24 hours. The murder victims in these cases were Clinton Dowding, 43, an employee of the Vehicle Maintenance Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago, and Paula Lackraj, 37, a nurse.

In addition, the body of taxi driver Wesley Cummings, which had gunshot wounds, was found in a canefield in Debe yesterday morning, and by late last evening, another body, that of an unidentified man, was recovered by the Coast Guard off of Staubles Bay. The body was bound and gagged.

The staggering statistic of 387 is even higher than the previous record-breaking year of 2005 when 386 persons were murdered. Another comparison shows that 298 persons were murdered up to September 19, 89 less than the figure recorded for the same period as of yesterday.

Philbert yesterday said he is concentrating his efforts on reducing the murders, but stressed the police cannot do the job alone.

“It is a major challenge and we are giving it urgent attention,” Philbert said, as he pointed out that manpower and other resources have been strategically deployed especially to deal with the gang- related killings.

“We are concerned and we want to assure the public that all is being done to ensure that the guns are taken away from the hands of criminal elements so that the homicides are reduced,” he said.

He called on the public to be patient as he and his officers put in place several new strategies to deal with homicides and other crimes.

President of the Downtown Owners Merchants Association Gregory Aboud, who recently expressed concern about the 22 murders that have taken place in the capital Port-of-Spain to date, again regretted that the country’s image as a peaceful nation was being tarnished.

“We are now a notorious land of murders and death and have moved up into position number ten in murder statistics. There could not be a more important task than the preservation of life and in that regard it may be safe to say that we are preoccupied with many less important tasks in the pursuance of national development. The extensive consultants hired to assist us with transformation and improvement in law and order owe us an explanation as to why we are continuing to break international crime records,” Aboud said yesterday.

On Thursday, National Security Minister Martin Joseph said the Government was moving to boost the manpower of the Police Service by 500 officer each year. He had again stated that every resource requested by the police was provided to them by the Government.

Joseph and Philbert met on Thursday where they were to discuss an extension on a recall of 353 officers from leave and the suspension of approval for leave for 226 officers to boost the manpower of the service.