Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency Tuesday, only about a month after the previous one ended, as officials said the country continues to face high levels of violent crime. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the government acted after the National Security Council noted credible reports of attacks planned against law enforcement officers.
Persad-Bissessar said the National Security Council identified ongoing crime as leading to “multiple deaths due to mass shootings” and said the continuance of “reprisal shootings amongst criminal gangs, if left unchecked, would endanger public safety.” She said the emergency is intended to allow authorities to respond with expanded powers.
The state of emergency, she said, grants the government additional powers, including the ability to make arrests and conduct searches without warrants. Government officials did not immediately announce any plans for a curfew, according to the report.
The government’s decision came with the country already spending much of the recent period in emergency measures. The report said Trinidad and Tobago has spent roughly 10 of the last 14 months under an emergency, and that the most recent previous state of emergency ended Jan. 31.
While Persad-Bissessar defended the measure as necessary to protect public safety, business leaders warned it could affect the economy. Reginald Mac Lean, president of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association, said, “It really isn’t good for tourism,” adding that with ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, Trinidad and Tobago should be “capitalizing on what is happening in the rest of the world, to encourage people to come to our shores.”
The report said the twin-island nation has recorded 63 killings so far this year, just one shy of the count for the same period last year. The government’s latest move was described as part of an ongoing effort to curb violence attributed to criminal gangs.
Opposition figures criticized the decision, accusing the government of relying on emergency powers rather than addressing underlying problems. In a statement, opposition leader Pennelope Beckles said, “This government has demonstrated time and again that it prefers authoritarian measures over sound, strategic crime management, and once again, it has chosen to restrict the freedoms of citizens rather than address the systemic problems of crime in Trinidad and Tobago.”
The emergency was described as having an initial duration of up to 15 days, with the government able to extend it if needed.