National Security Minister Edmund Dillon was heckled yesterday during an anti-crime rally outside the Parliament building.
“What are you doing? You not doing nothing,” shouted Woodbrook resident Kevin de Freitas.
“You come here to do a job. You is a joke. Do your job, you is a waste of time. Do your job. Do your job,” he said.
Other members of the crowd joined, chanting “Do your job”.
Several organisations and NGOs gathered at the Waterfront complex to take part in the Side by Side We Stand for T&T rally, which gained momentum after the December murder of bank employee Shannon Banfield.
Speaking after the event Dillon said: “That is not the majority of the response and you will always have a minority of people who have their own agenda.
The reason for this is bringing civil society together and therefore in a world of interdependence National Security cannot do it alone. It must be based on a collective effort of T&T.
“When you ask the minister what he is doing, what are you doing? What are we doing as citizens of T&T and what are we doing to help with law enforcement and crime in T&T? That is the question we need to ask ourselves because of today’s effort,” he said.
He said there were measures in place to deal with issues of crime and new strategies were planned for this year.
Dillon said the rally was a very timely initiative to deal with crime and extended his appreciation for the rally.
“I don’t see this as a sign of protest of any sort but as a coming together as the people of T&T to make a difference who wants to stand up for something that affects everyone of us,” he said.
“We have bystanders who criticize and so on. Where are they today to make a stand as you are doing?”
Dillon said the law enforcement are the end of the spectrum and minds of individuals are already shaped and wider intervention was needed.
“Crime impacts as as an individual and a level of the state. The police and other agency.
We all have a part to play and level of the communities. This is where I see your input and initiative to treat with the criminality of T&T,” he said.
Sunity Maharaj, managing director of the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies, said politicians were representatives and support was necessary for people lost to crime and guidance counsellors were needed in schools along with constitution reform.
She said all institutions needed to be equally accountable.