Bounty Hunters to Become Key in Trinidad?

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday has suggested the formation of a Bounty Hunters Inc to bring criminals to justice.

He called for the group's formation because he said people had a fundamental and human right to defend themselves if the Government could not do so.

Panday, who was addressing a UNC-A public meeting in Chase Village, Chaguanas, on Monday night, said Bounty Hunters Inc would not only "be simple but legal".

He said 40 businessmen could put up $500,000 each and create a fund of $20 million "and let the criminals know that, should they attack one of you, we shall use that money to hunt them down and bring them to justice".

Panday, who recently returned from England, said he had a chance to view what was happening in Trinidad from the outside and realised the people's frustration.

"When the people accept violence and will not stand up and fight against it, they living in a failed state. When the state fails to perform its primary function, which is the protection of the property of citizens, then the people come to a point where they must defend themselves," he said.

He referred to a visit to the home of a family in Felicity, who claimed that in the absence of the businessman husband, the wife and children were attacked, beaten, robbed and assaulted "by men dressed in TSTT clothes and in a marked TSTT van".

"My information is that the police intercepted a TSTT vehicle on the highway and questioned the occupants, then sent them away, without even asking that they be identified by the victims," he said , adding the men did not wear masks during the attack and could have been identified.

Panday said before he reached home that night, he heard that another businessman was shot dead by bandits.

Trinidad and Tobago Call for Bounty Hunters

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday says the time is right to introduce bounty hunters and establish watch groups in all communities to battle surging crime in the country. He also says the Opposition will help organize the people if the police cannot protect citizens.

Although his idea of bounty hunters was discarded some years ago, Panday believes the time is now right to reintroduce it in the hope that it will stem the increase in criminal activities.

Speaking at the UNC-A's weekly Monday Night Forum at the Orange Valley Community Facility, Panday said if the police cannot protect the citizens, then "we will have no alternative but to organise people to protect themselves".

He said villagers should devise a system to "observe strangers, mark them, take photos, follow them if necessary and notify others in the neighbourhood".

He referred to similar groups established by Tabaquite Member of Parliament Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj in his constituency.

Panday said villagers should "be able to close all roads, so that the criminals cannot run out".

He urged them to "do this in every village".

Panday, along with other UNC-A officials, met with Police Commissioner Trevor Paul and other senior officers recently to discuss the upsurge in crime.

On the issue of refusal by police to give some businessmen firearms to protect themselves, Panday said the police officials spoke about an appeal process for such a license.

He suggested that if anyone's application was refused, "you should tell us and we would raise it in Parliament and we shall bring judicial proceedings against the Commissioner in the courts if necessary". (PDM)