By Sandra Chouthi
Special to Indo-Caribbean World
Port-of-Spain - With the Trinidad and Tobago murder rate trending upwards to record levels, many Trinidadians are wondering if the new Commissioner of Police, Stephen Williams, will be effective in leading the fight against what is now an historic escalation in the crime rate.
Police Commissioner Trevor Paul was given an extension of his office until November, 2008.
Christopher Thomas, chairman of the Police Service Commission, on June 13 announced Williams, 47, as Paul's successor. Three people were on the short list to be CoP. They were American-born Louis Vega, Deputy Commissioner James Philbert and Williams.
The PSC first chose Vega, but he turned down the job in the face of local police who made it clear they would not give him their support.
In a letter to the Guardian newspaper, Kevin Peters noted it is interesting that Trinidad and Tobago is not the first, second or third Caribbean nation to consider and accept a foreign "top cop." He pointed out that Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia and Jamaica have had foreign commissioners since the 1990s.
In announcing Williams for the top job in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, PSC chairman Thomas dismissed newspaper reports that Williams had been third in line to be the new top cop.
"The commission wishes to categorically deny that Mr Williams was the second or third choice. That is absolutely false. Mr Williams is the commission's top candidate," Thomas said.
In getting the go-ahead, Williams ousted Deputy Police Commissioner James Philbert and Assistant Police Commissioner Fitzroy Frederick, who according to Thomas, were also selected in the top five.

The post was advertised in local, regional and international media twice, at least four times before the appointment was made, Thomas said.
The commission's chairman also denied reports that Louis Vega, New York Police Department Captain - one of the five applicants shortlisted for the post - declined the position of police commissioner.
"I wish to say categorically there was no denial by the candidate of any offer. The candidate did not refuse any offer and there was no rejection of any offer," Thomas said.
He added that the issue of disqualification did not arise. "The candidate decided to withdraw during the process of the review of the adverse reports on his previous tenure," Thomas said.
Thomas said in light of such reports, he did not believe it would be wise to appoint such a person as the next Police Commissioner.
Thomas admonished the media, saying that "irresponsible" reporting about Vega did not enhance the country's international image.
Regarding the selection process, Thomas said it was historic. He said it was the first time it was conducted under the Legal Notice No 166 as prescribed by Parliament.
Although selected, Williams' appointment still has to be approved by Parliament.
Penn State University Justice and Safety Institute in the US was awarded sole selective tender and conducted the evaluation of the applicants, Thomas said.
After the press briefing, CoP Paul took no questions from the media. He quickly left the room and went down a flight of stairs. He did not respond to media questions as he walked briskly when asked for his thoughts on Williams as his successor.
The top five recommended candidates were: Senior Supt Stephen Williams; Deputy Police Commissioner James Philbert; Louis Vega, New York Police Department Captain; Assistant Police Commissioner Fitzroy Frederick; US national (not named). One American and two locals were interviewed.
The selection process included doing full security checks on the candidates.
On June 6, the foreign candidate met with PSC regarding adverse reports during his tenure. Vega later withdrew his candidacy for the post. On June 12, the PSC made its recommendation to the President of Trinidad and Tobago.
Commenting on Williams as the selection for CoP, Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday called for information on the successful - and failed - candidates for Police Commissioner and independent resources to check them out before deciding whom to support.
Government should provide information on the person selected and on the other candidates so we may be able to judge and determine how good the persons are before we support any Parliamentary move on this. If we don't know who all the candidates are, how can we do so?" Panday said.
Additionally, "What is the function of Parliament if they are to subject this matter to positive resolution and we cannot adequately investigate these candidates. We also require proper independent resources to check into their backgrounds, etc," he said.
The murder rate is the most worrying of all crimes right now. By mid-June, the murder rate was already 224. At 214, it was 92 more murders than the same period in 2007. At this rate, one murder is committed every 17 hours and 30 minutes. At present trends, this country can expect to record 494 murders at the end of 2008. By the end of June, about 249 murders are likely to be registered.
The 200th murder for this year was recorded on May 28 when 40-year-old Shawn La Roche, of Port-of-Spain, was chopped to death at Quarry Village in Valencia.
Last year's 200th victim came over two months after the corresponding period, with the slaying of 24-year-old CEPEP worker Brent Patrick on August 16.
In the meantime, National Security Minister Martin Joseph has been under intense pressure from the business community and the public to curb the crime rate.
On June 12, he refused to comment on a report that he had tendered his resignation in 2007 to Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
The claim was made initially by deputy leader of the UNC Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the party's public meeting in Diego Martin. Even as Joseph refused to divulge whether he did attempt to resign last year, he said he took public criticism of his ministerial performance in stride.
Responding on June 12 at the post-Cabinet media briefing at Whitehall on calls made by the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Manning to take over the duties of National Security Minister, Joseph said: "I continue to serve at the beckle (sic) of the PM. The PM appoints and the PM removes ministers of government. As long as I continue to remain the Minister of National Security, I have a responsibility to give it my best and I would continue to do so."
Joseph added that his successor would come in to office reaping all the benefits of the initiatives being put in place.
Regarding recent statements Joseph made that crime would be a thing of the past in three years' time, Joseph slammed the media, saying, "It was convenient for it to be misunderstood."
"When I indicated that in two to three years' time we will not be here discussing the very same issues for which we are discussing, it was convenient for it to be misunderstood," Joseph said.
"It doesn't mean that improvements will not occur in the move up to the two to three years."

Port-of-Spain - Five murders, and a shooting and wounding took place within a 20-hour period last week, bringing the murder toll to 227.
Three of the victims were shot on the proverbial “Black Friday” night into Saturday morning, while the other victim was murdered in broad daylight.
Dead are Atiba Bullock, Trevor Renne Toussaint, Michael Hernandez, Devon Quashie and Wendell Taylor.
The men were murdered in separate incidents but investigators have labelled the killings of Bullock and Hernandez as gang related.
According to reports Bullock, 25, was walking along Barton Lane, Belmont at about 10:30 pm on Friday, when he was accosted by three men. The men reportedly shot Bullock about the body killing him on the spot. However while making their escape, they came upon Alvin Edwards and shot him in the leg.
Edwards reportedly told police that he knew nothing of the killing and was passing through the lane to get to his home.
A few hours later at about 4:30 Saturday morning, Michael Hernandez was shot and killed at a birthday party in Hell Yard, Beetham Gardens.
According to police, Hernandez got into an argument with another man at the party. The heated exchange turned fatal when the man reportedly whipped out a gun and fired. It is unclear whether Hernandez died on the spot or at hospital.
The killings continued as the body of Trevor Renne Toussaint was found in a house at #12 Hope Place, Mt Hope Road.
Toussaint, 38, was discovered with gunshot wounds about the body at his shack about 12 noon on Saturday. Residents of Hope Place told police they heard several loud explosions at about 11 on Friday night but no one came out.
Toussaint lived in a galvanised shack at the side of his sister’s house.
Marlene Toussaint said that her teenaged daughter Precious Falician, went to look for her uncle around noon, but instead found him lying on the floor in a pool of blood. She said her brother was a sanitation labourer and was not known to have any enemies.
The shocked woman was at a loss for words as she packed up her brother’s clothing and searched for documents.
Homicide officers visited the scene and are continuing inquiries. Investigations are also continuing into the brazen daylight murder of Devon Quashie.
Quashie, 24, of Cipriani Avenue, Second Caledonia was shot and killed shortly before 1 o’clock Saturday afternoon.
According to reports Quashie was mixing concrete at Second Caledonia Extension, when a man ran down the hill, and opened fire on him. Quashie reportedly ran a short distance, collapsed and died. Police who visited the scene said, Quashie was not known to them and was not a gang member.
Tobago recorded its second murder for the week when a south Trinidad man was stabbed to death at a popular nightspot in Scarborough on Saturday morning, triggering a fracas at the Casualty Department of the Scarborough Hospital.
Wendell Taylor, 32, of 66 George Street, in La Romaine, was pronounced dead at the hospital. In the aftermath of the incident, mayhem reigned at the Casualty Department with medical personnel and persons awaiting treatment scampering for safety as bottles rained on the area. Heavily-armed policemen rushed to the hospital to restore order; however no one was injured. Prior to this, it was a similar scene at the Docksite Restaurant and Bar at Milford Road in lower Scarborough where the fatal stabbing took place.
The front of the premises was like a war zone as a barrage of bottles and other missiles flooded the area immediately following the stabbing incident which occurred at about 6.30 am.
According to police reports, Taylor was stabbed during an altercation with another man. Police said the altercation erupted following slurs and heckling over a man’s reported alternative sexual lifestyle. Eyewitnesses claim the individual was subjected to continued harassment by a group of patrons at the establishment. Shortly afterwards, according to a report, violence erupted and the victim was stabbed in the process.
Another Trinidadian man, who was not immediately identified, also sustained injuries during the fracas.
He was reportedly treated at the hospital and discharged. A 25-year-old man of Caledonia Road, Mt St George, east Tobago, who was also treated at the hospital for a facial injury, is assisting police with their investigations into the murder.
Taylor’s killing came three days after Kelvin Cook’s burnt and dismembered body was discovered in a vacant plot at Sangster’s Hill, also in lower Scarborough.

Port-of-Spain - Car thieves have stepped up their activities in South Trinidad.
They stole 116 cars in southern districts from January 1 to June 10, police said. This was eight more than for the same period last year.
Of the vehicles stolen this year 37 were taken from La Romaine with the majority from Gulf View Link Road and Gulf City Mall, police said. For the same period last year the number was 34. But while areas on the outskirts showed increases in the heart of the city itself there was a major decrease: 23 compared to 43 for the period last year. And so far two cars were stolen from the San Fernando General Hospital's car park, a big drop from last year's 12.
Clifton Sukhai, operations manager of Gulf City Mall, denied any major increase in car thefts at the mall. He said for the past six months only four vehicles were stolen from the mall. "We can safely assure all members of the public, that when they come to the mall, they are safe and secure from rapes, robberies or car thefts," he said.
A police source said the majority of the times that a vehicle was stolen, a report was usually made directly to the police instead of mall security.
The main types of cars at risk of being stolen were mainly Nissan B-14's and B-15's, Bluebirds and Mazda 323's. On rare occasions a Nissan Cefiro will be stolen because parts for that car are expensive, one car dealer said.
Police offered some tips to prevent care thefts.
Installing a good security system in vehicles was high on the list.
A vehicle should have a visible or distinguishing mark so that it could be easily spotted if stolen. "There are a lot of the same type and colour of a vehicles out there. If there was something that could easily identify the car that was stolen, then retrieval will be much easier," a police official said.
He also said many drivers were not aware of a trick used. "People who want to steal cars usually drive their cars around playing loud music when they pass by the cars they target. If the alarm goes off, they know that will be a difficult one to get and therefore leave it alone."
He encouraged drivers not to have heavily tinted glass on vehicles because it was difficult to see inside and if an emergency occurred that could be a problem for the police officers who were trying to assist.
He also said when people bought a vehicle, they should change the lock and key, so there will not be two people with access to one vehicle.

Port-of-Spain - Rice farmers were in a quandary last weekend after they learned the National Flour Mills had put its rice milling operations at Carlsen Field, Chaguanas up for sale.
More than 150 farmers occupying 100 acres of land running from Clarke Road in Penal to Valley Line, Barrackpore had already invested in land preparation to resume rice cultivation after 10 years.
Pankaj Ramlochan said that he had ploughed five acres of land and awaited rice seeds imported from Guyana.
"Farmers have been meeting and making plans to get back to the lands again," he said adding that following the harvest of rice, farmers planted bodi, tomatoes, watermelon, cucumber and other short term crops as their parents and grandparents had done before them.
"Our homes were always filled with food and our gardens were our pride and joy," he said adding that he missed the days when farming was a way of life.
Nimchan Ramoutar said that farmers suffered anxious moments as they searched for rice seeds. "Just as we managed to get the seeds, we hear about the sale of the milling operations," he said.
He said that Penal farmers had ordered 5,000 pounds of rice seeds that would be arriving from Guyana soon.
Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture said that NFM received (TT) $400,000 a month from government to keep the rice mill open.
NFM manufactures and sells flour, soybean meal, rice and oils and is listed on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange with 51 percent of its shares held by National Enterprises Limited. According to market experts, the rice mill is valued at $14 million. Sale of the rice milling operations were advertised recently in the daily newspapers.