Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5
[00:00:08] Speaker B: and we are speaking to Darren Carmichael, the director of Crime Stoppers and he's here with me again. We're talking about house breakings, gang related crimes, winning public trust on reporting crime. Now good morning to you, Mr. Carmichael and welcome.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Morning Devi. And welcome to all your listeners and to some extent viewers as well.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Yeah, well they're all seeing us. You can. We are streaming live on Freedom 106.5 FM on social media. Now this morning we're talking about the break ins we seeing.
In my respected opinion, I don't know if you notice, I don't know, you could shed some light an increase in home invasions we're seeing just recently.
Police would have take snuffed the life out. The life out of a few, was it four? Six of them?
Four died.
And more is happening. You know, from your professional perspective, what are you seeing?
[00:01:02] Speaker A: Well, you're quite right.
What is happening more and more you are seeing increase in the number of potential victims. So all of a sudden the crime of home invasion is now becoming more prevalent in some respects and there's reason for that. When you look at, you know, suppression that is taking place in crime in other aspects of other areas, you find that now all of a sudden the, and I would want to say the softer targets are those persons in the homes where you feel that you're most comfortable. All right, you realize that, you know, I'll just use an analogy.
When you're on your way home, what happens when you get closest to your home, closest to a gate, as you're unlocking your front door, your natural body nature kind of takes you straight to the washroom.
Right. And I'm using that simply to say that your mind and your body becomes relaxed in that environment. True. And that is where, you know, you send the thing. And it's the same thing. Your, your, your suspicion, your awareness, the level of focus that you may have all the way home gets a little relaxed in your comfort of your home. Right.
And it's, it's a bad thing because what happens is you're not looking out for the dog that would normally run to the gate when you reach. You're not looking out for the suspicious activity, the person who might be following you. And criminals know that. Criminals know that in your home you feel safest and therefore they exploit any opportunity that is afforded to them. That is, you know, some people have galleries and hammocks and some people wash the clothes under the house you know, that type upstairs, downstairs thing.
And they do a lot of activity, even cook on the outside.
And being on the outside is what presents that target for the criminal element. They look for the child that is riding the bicycle in the yard, the mommy, granny who is looking at a tablet, looking at something on the tablet in the open gallery and so on. And what it is, is on the entire street, your gate is the only one that is open.
The child is the only child in the yard running around the vehicle might be exposed when you're unpacking your groceries or something. So the opportunistic crime that the criminals are looking for there happens in the home environment.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: So that brings me to my question.
When it comes to vulnerability, you mentioned a few things that it was bordering on. What I wanted to chat with you on that issue.
Let's get a little deeper and let's explore it. Both what your. The scenarios you created and nighttime. Where do you think citizens not who are victims, but persons who listening now, can look at strengthening. What are the vulnerable points?
Times of the day you think, and you mentioned a couple. What other vulnerable points do you think these criminals look at? And they punk stone that. And I'm talking night, daytime. You mentioned two. And I love what you talk about. The groceries, unpacking. That's a vulnerable time. Grandma sit on any hammock, are vulnerable, maybe washing, hanging out. What other vulnerable times you think these bandits are looking at night and day?
[00:04:19] Speaker A: What I'd want to first put us in. Let's put it. Let's put us in a mindset first, all right? And that mindset has to be that you understand why the criminal is coming at you first and foremost.
Motive plus opportunity equals crime.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Motive plus opportunity equals crime.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: And it's a simple equation if we are to understand what the criminal look at, right? Bear in mind that criminals out there have that mindset. They are focused on what they want, they focus, they're well resourced, they committed, they go hard, right? And we have to understand that they are out there looking. They're always looking. They always, you know, they are like predators always out there looking. What they look for is that opportunity, right? That slip that up, that time when we're not aware we're not focused, we're not, you know, paying attention, that type of thing. And it speaks to all the things, all the scenarios that you can speak of that would welcome or make our home invasion inviting to them, right? So what we have to do first and foremost is understanding that opportunistic crime that takes place we have to find every way possible to remove the opportunity from the equation.
Right. Therefore we need to train ourselves to be observant. We need to train ourselves to be situationally aware of what is happening all around us. Right. Are you being followed? That stranger standing, looking out there, that vehicle with two persons parked in it, it might be a block away, but it's close enough to get to you when you try to unlock and open the gate and look to walk inside and so on. All right. Those things where you have water running on the outside, two o' clock in the morning, they burst a pipe hoping that you'll come out to rectify it. You know that things like that. You're not expecting a package, you're not expecting a DHL or FedEx package or whatever it might be. Why are you opening the door to somebody who knocking with a parcel in their hand, you know that probably with a clipboard looking like you're appearing to be Tiantech or appearing to be Wasa. Right. They've used every guys possible to come at us because they feel that if you think it's something familiar, you'd open up casually and let them in. Right. So think of the home invasion and I'll just back up a little bit. Think of the home invasion.
You know, there's something called burglary. There's housebreaking and larceny that occurs in the daytime. Burglary is after six or seven in the night or whatever it is because the penalty is a little bit harsher. You know, our parents always tell us a thief is a murderer. Yes, Right. So you find that if you come in the night, it's assumed that I'm lying down, sleeping or my family is there. So chances an encounter might result in a deadly encounter. Right. So what the home invader is doing, they're telling us in no uncertain terms that they are prepared to have a violent encounter with us in our home. Why? Because the home invasion speaks to you being present, you being there, you know, wring your arms or put gag you tie you up or take all your, all your goods, your valuables, your jewelry, your bank card, go to the ATM and come back. All that takes place during a home invasion. Right. They molest people and that type of thing. So what it is is home invasion by the very nature of it speaks to you being at home. Right. And there being a violent encounter with you and the perpetrator. Okay, that is what home invasion. And we can't discount that because what how they do it, they rush you when you're coming in with your car, they kick in your door while you're there sleeping. They grab you from the hammock or from washing outside or whatever it is and pull you on the inside. Sometimes they wait until the breadwinner gets home. So they tie you up and wait till 5:30, right. Just so that when they know the breadwinner gets in. That's everybody who we're looking for now. And then we lock down the place for the night. We take all the goods, your valuable, unplug the electronics, take your bank card, go in the bank, we come back, all of that takes place. Sometimes it goes so far right from experience is that they, you know, if they go to the bank at 8:30, 9 o' clock at night and they realize you have 10,000 more in your account, they will wait until midnight or one where they can go and access the next daily limit. That is what happens in those home invasions. That's how comfortable the criminal is invading your home. Remaining there and perpetrating these, you know, heinous kind of crimes.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: You have, you, you see, you notice my engagement. You have said some things there that I never even think about.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: Bursting a pipe, your pipe. You, you, you hear water gushing on the side of your house 2:30 in
[00:08:53] Speaker A: the morning, providing your water provide.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Well, what if you have a tank?
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Yeah. If you have a tank and you're
[00:08:59] Speaker B: studying, oh my gosh, this pipe burst.
Run out and lock off my tank because I don't want the water to run out. I need to save that water.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: Boy, in your sleepy stage, you just
[00:09:08] Speaker B: run out the door, you know, and they know that. And that's when they pounce on you.
So here's a little, a little, a little pipe fitting tip. Don't put the lock off outside the house.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: That's correct.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: Right inside in the kitchen it might
[00:09:23] Speaker A: seem, you know, it's a breakaway from the norm. But people have done actually lock off is on the inside. You don't need to go outside, you don't need to.
[00:09:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: So if there's a breach of the
[00:09:32] Speaker A: pipe outside, there's a little rerouting that
[00:09:34] Speaker B: needs to take a little rerouted. Yeah. Because I thinking about it according to where the breaches, if you lock off is it water is still done. It all depends. But it's, it's things that you can look at, you know, little avenues. The way you reroute your pipes inside your house borehole lay it run on the inside of the living room on the corners if possible rather than on the outside. Put it on a stand, you know, something that could at least make it a little harsh. Harder for them to. To get at.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: When we look at these home invasions and you talk about some very, very vulnerable points in terms of.
I want you to identify now the difference between. Well, you did. You did the home invasion part. What is considered to be a burglary.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: All right, so. So house breaking a lot. Any. Any. Any offense. I mean, I'm not gonna be. You know, there's a disclaimer. I mean, I'd be totally accurate.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: But they're not out there summarize it. Be giving you. Yeah.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: The long and short is house breaking and larceny. That's when you break into someone's home. Right. And. And they're not. They're probably not at home. Or is it. Well, there's really daytime. So in the daytime, whether you're home or not, they call it house breaking and larceny. Right. Where you break in and you steal.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Burglary is. Is a distinction that happens at night because there's a stiffer penalty for it. Right. So they call it burglary after six, I think between six and six, or some kind of seven and six, you know, some kind of time like that. Right, right.
They call it burglary instead. Right. And that's basically the same. Same breaking into your home.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: So burglary is between 6am 6pm it's
[00:11:08] Speaker A: night and night time. Yeah. So it is six or seven. The whole me.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: The timing is once it's nighttime, that could be considered burglary. That is considered not could be.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: It is burglary.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: Burglary and housebreaking and larceny is during the daytime.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: And a home invasion is when you at home and they hold you against your will in your own house.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: I'm not sure whether home invasion, the term is in fact in law as yet, but basically that's what we call it. Right. When you invade the home while they're there, hold them hostage and whatever it might be, tie you up and of course, pack all your goods and leave.
[00:11:43] Speaker C: Right.
[00:11:44] Speaker A: And you know, I will say that the tipping point for where we would have seen a rise in home invasion is really is two things, really. One is that, you know, during COVID a lot of people operated from their homes. Right. So you'd have found that people were cooking and selling food out, you know, from their homes. They were doing all these sales of different things that you would normally see them in a white van going around in nao. You know, I say white van. But you know, you go and you sell things from your van, that type of thing. What happens is all these people who run those kind of businesses, when they come back, they, you know, they come, they return to home with all the money in their hand, right? If you're selling items from your home, people pull up at your doorstep and they hand you money all day, right?
What that says or indicates is that there, you know, there is cash in that house, right? So there were a lot of cash rich businesses operating from homes more visible.
Might have been so before, but certainly during COVID when people couldn't go out and do things, a lot of it took place from the home. There are people who win significant winnings in casinos and they drive to their homes, not to our bank to deposit it. So if they're being followed, they go straight to their homes. People who run businesses, you know, you have a construction business or whatever it is, you go to the bank, your office might be at home. So you come to your home with the deposit to pay people montenegro whatever it might be. And people know and they observe and even your own workers observe these things. So, so what the, the draw to the criminal is that the crash, the cash that they know is, is there kind of thing, all right? And of course, if it's, if it's goods you sell perfumes or electronics or whatever, they know that more than likely there's a stock of that in the house as well. So that was one of the draws. And of course the other draw is that as police clamped down on the criminal activity, that there's police presence outside as businesses afford security and make sure that they are locked down and protected from a security standpoint, right? The only vulnerable persons out there now is you and me, the homeowners, right? Because we can't afford the round the clock security and you know, that kind of presence that other persons have. So as the crime is being locked down, right? It's like a balloon, you know, you have air in a balloon and if the police put a squeeze air, the air doesn't go anywhere, it doesn't disappear. It just mushrooms somewhere else, right? And that is what we're seeing. We're seeing the criminals, you know, they're refocusing, they're redirecting the energies towards the more vulnerable, which becomes the homeowner. That environment.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: I like, I like that explanation because it lends to understanding some of the very vulnerable points persons need to pay attention to. Now the recommendation, I mean, we could think about the getting that lump sum of cash farmers fall Victim now because they're farming.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: And then persons come and buy the produce and then they have this high, huge sum of money in their. In their possession at that point in time. Then you have to watch bankers, persons who withdraw, withdraw money to go pay staff.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: Right.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: You know, that's why we could go towards Internet banking.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: That's correct.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: And online banking where you could transfer. But then, you know, we in Trinidad, so many have employees who just don't have no account.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Yeah, well, well, I mean, let's not. I know that the National Payments and Initiative Innovative company, you know, the actual.
These syllabus with. But you know, they're moving and we are moving as a country more towards E payments and online payments and so on and ach and all the. All these terms and really and truly, it beckons or begs businesses or persons who are entrepreneurs to hey, come on board. You have to move in the direction. Right. No longer will you or should you be accepting payments when you could tap, you know, two phones, two phones together. And it exists now, you know, I don't want to call names, but it exists now in a number of different. On a number of different platforms. And really and truly, once you understand what the criminal is after, we need to, like I said, remove the opportunity from the equation. That's the only way you could protect ourselves. We have to give the appearance as if, you know, yes, we conduct business, but there's no, you know, long ago you used to see these Bermudas and carry trucks, no cash on board.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:16:04] Speaker A: Right. And they stop it in them because there's no cash on board.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: There's no cash on board. Yeah.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: And, and we need to send that message. There's a pass sign on your back if you have to, you know, there's no cash.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: There's no cash. So you're wasting time. If you hit a carib truck, one of them trucks, you're not getting because all customers are mandated to pay them via online transactions. And once that money hits the company account, you robbing the truck to get what? They have no access to the account.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Yep. And banks have made it easy. You know, you could go to the ATM. I mean, not all ATMs might appear to be safe, depending on the time of night or day you're traversing. But certainly, you know, the ATMs allow you to do cash deposits, you know, quite easy into your account now. But again, there are a lot of people who still remain to this day unbanked, if that's the correct term, to categorize them in where they have no banking account, or they don't. They choose not to have one for whatever reason might be, you know, might be theirs, you know, but certainly, you know, we would encourage persons to do some of those things so that they have to keep appearing as a deterrent.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: Now, let's talk about. You see? See something, say something.
You are the director of Crime Stoppers. Persons needing to call Crime Stoppers to report a crime in progress or one that has happened, they feel that their conversation is compromised somehow, the identity is compromised.
What can you say to persons who have lost trust in reporting crimes?
[00:17:30] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, it's something that we grapple with every day trying to convince persons that the hotline that we have, first of all, we're not the police, right? We are a private organization with a board. I'm one of the directors on that board.
And Crimestoppers is a hotline, an anonymous tip hotline, right? And while it started off being a hotline, it is also we now have a website which is a web portal, a tip portal. We have an app, right? P3 tips, right, as an app that you can use as well. So all three platforms, whether it's the hotline, 800 tips, 800-8477, the website, right. Crimestopperstt.com and there's a web tip portal in there or the Ptree app, you can get that on the iOS or the Android platform. All of those platforms are engineered with your safety in mind. There is no caller id, no call tracing, no way for us to look and track IP addresses and all of those things.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: But right, persons can trust that.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: Yes, it is. It is totally safe, 100% safe. In other words, once you use any one of those platforms and you don't tell your girlfriend or your boyfriend that you call Crime Stoppers, your information is safe with us, right? Pretty much. Once we get the information, what we do is you assign a tip number, and that tip number is how you contact us in the future. So you send us information, we will take it, and we tell you, look, in 21 days, make contact with us and find out if the tip has been successful. All right? So in 21 days, you go back to the website, you know, you punch in a tip number which would bring you back to the reference point or on the phone, you give us your tip number, and we're able to tell you whether that tip you provided is or has been successful, and you are entitled to a reward.
The safety and the anonymity goes further in that if you have to collect a reward, we ask you which branch of Scotiabank. Right. You'd want to do that. And it's very simple. The process is simply. You're going to any branch of Scotiabank, you ask for the operations manager, you give them the tip number, right? And they hand you an envelope with $10,000 if that's the amount of the reward. Simple as that. No id, no caller, you don't sign for anything.
Is as simple as that. And of course, it's been working for the last 26 years.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: In Trinidad and Tobago.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: All right, let's take a call quickly and respectfully. Good morning to you, boss.
[00:19:47] Speaker C: Listen to this, this big bad thing here. When you go to collect your funds in the Scotia bank, okay, the thing is, that guy who paying you that money, whatever they enroll in, he is a silent person. Then.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: Well, if I can answer right away.
So. So you are told to go to the operations manager. That's one person, right. And you're not gonna go in your front door and tell the security of
[00:20:12] Speaker C: a clue what's happening.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: Exactly. It doesn't. You're not gonna go to the front door and say, good day.
You know, I'm a crime stopper tipster, come to collect money. Okay. Go to, you know, you just ask the operations manager. Once you're in that person's company, you just say, listen, tip, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. You don't have to give say anything else. Right. We would have already informed them that you come in. We'd have already informed them that some. Well, somebody's coming with this number and that they are entitled to $10,000. Right. They're not going to ask anything. They're not going to, you know, inquiring. They don't even know what the tip is about or why you're there. You know, in terms of what information you would have provided. Right.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: All right.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: I'm the director of Crime Stoppers, only directors and I don't even know so well, okay. We don't even know what goes on in terms of those things.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: All right. We had another call that was coming through. Feel free to call us very quickly at 625-2257 and 627323. As we discussed this very, very important topic this morning about Crime Stoppers, the home invasion. So it's a simple process because I often wondered if you call Crime Stoppers report a crime.
The information was useful because I'm not paying attention to. You're paying attention to the radio. You're listening. Ah, boy, that Tip, I get them, they find the person, right?
[00:21:25] Speaker A: Correct, yes.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: Or they find the guns, they find the car.
So I entitled to reward. Now, you mentioned $10,000.
TT does every. Is there a general or generic reward attached to a tip that yields results or outside of that, where this will be a reward. If you could give us information leading to this high stool kidnapping or whatever outside of those rewards advertised.
We have a minute and a half to answer this. Is there a stipulated tip across the board?
[00:22:03] Speaker A: So very quickly what we do is the jurisdiction is 10,000 titi dollars in the U.S. it's 10,000 U.S. in the UK, 10,000 pounds. Right. Or euros. Right. So simply put, we have thresholds. So if it's a firearm, there's a certain amount, not the full 10,000, we pay up to 10,000.
Firearms will draw a certain amount ammunition. Kidnapping, you know, whatever the reward, there are certain thresholds there. What you'll see from time to time is there are special rewards.
So if the police, if they indicate that they, you know, like the guns for the municipal police is up to 100,000, 5,000 per weapon and things like that, you would have seen those things. Right? So we have special rewards.
Most of the times it's being paid outside of the crime support remit. Somebody might have been kidnapped and lost and the family wants to offer a special reward, we accept that as well.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: All right?
[00:22:56] Speaker A: Right, so that's how it goes.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: So, guys, we're speaking with Darren Carmichael, the director of Crime Stoppers. We would keep him at least about 10 minutes or so into the next hour as we continue our conversation. And this is where we're going to invite your calls in where you can share some insight or maybe ask a question if you require to get any intel at all as it relates to Crime Stoppers. Now, we discussed already so far the difference between burglary, home invasion. We also talked, touched on the points of vulnerability where persons are vulnerable, where the bandits are seeing. And we're going to share some more insights. Stay with us. Your news to the top is up next.
Mr. Carmichael will stay with us inside the next hour and we'll take your calls on WhatsApp. Message. Welcome back, Trinidad and Tobago. The lines are open. We are talking with Darren Carmichael, the director of Crime Stoppers. Hello, good morning.
[00:23:47] Speaker C: Good morning, Mr. Carmichael. And good morning, Davy.
You know, this juxtaposition into exactly what I want to talk about. But Mr. Carmichael might be able to answer my question. But listen, let me ask you a question, Mr. Carmichael. Does you believe that the present security architecture positions the government to go after Mr. Big. We're talking about the people who are transshippers of cocaine, the people who are launderers of money, the people who sit at the top and facilitate the crime at the bottom. Do you believe our present security architecture is designed in order to treat with that? And I ask you this, I put this question to you in light of the Minister telling me that he want 2,000 more police officers. I do not know if you think it's a good idea to take good apples and put them in a barrel with bad apples. Eric. So I listen to your comments, Eric.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: I don't know, I don't know how you want Mr. Carmichael to answer that question. I don't know why you mean you, you, you just went off topic and Mr. Carmichael, I don't know if you wish to respond.
[00:25:00] Speaker A: Well, I wouldn't.
Yes, it's off topic. I mean, if you tell me. Well, you know, how could information that it comes into the hands of the police, which is, you know, we're not the police, but we share the information with the police on any crime or, you know, that kind of intelligence is given to them and they, they do
[00:25:17] Speaker B: what they have to do with it. Yeah, that's the.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Really, there's no limit. So it could be on anyone, big fish, small fish, you know, that type of thing. We are not the ones to determine.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: Yeah, because if you, if you, when, if a tipster was to call what's the crime suppers number? 800 tips and give you a tip on a government minister right now, that is engaging in something. You pass that information.
That's all. Hello, good morning. Quickly, respectfully, good morning.
[00:25:48] Speaker C: 100% completely anonymous. And the reason why I'm asking that because, you know, I've had discussions with.
They still do not have the confidence to call it a concept because they have lack confidence in the police service and the whole trust in the police service. So is it 100% anonymous? And if so, you need to need more marketing on this so that people will know for sure and feel confident that you can call in. So is it 100%?
[00:26:19] Speaker A: Certainly I can say for sure that it is. And I'm speaking Now about a 26 year history, you know, since 1999, if you could remember and Miss Universe was held here. That's how long Crime Stoppers has been in existence.
Yes, we do the marketing. Yes, we do the, you know, we have a Facebook page, we have Instagram.
You need to go to those sites and kind of understand what we do. And the call that we make. It's an ongoing thing. So. Yes, I mean, we have to find a way, like anything else, to keep it top of mind, much as you would do advertising and promoting. We have to keep promoting the hotline, we have to keep promoting the anonymity, we have to keep promoting the independence of, you know. Yes. We work with the police in giving the information. They're the one who. I mean, when you talk about $300 million worth of narcotics recovered over a period of time, that's not me. I'm not the one who recovered narcotics. Right. So that's the work of the police. Right. The good things that have been done, the progress that has been made, the inroads that has been made, the arrest that has been made. Up to recently there was some arrest, I wouldn't say exactly what it was, but a Crime Stopper tip resulted in a huge haul. Right. So you find that, you know, we have to keep promoting it. Yes, we have to keep engaging persons mind.
Don't mix up 800 tips with any other type hotline in the country.
All right. We're very specific.
If you call the program, your information is safe with us. In fact, it's so safe, we do not know who you are when you call. We do not know where you live when you call. All we take is the information that you provide.
[00:27:50] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:27:50] Speaker A: All right. And your mechanism for getting back in touch with us is totally anonymous. We don't know your number, no call id, no call tracer, nothing on those lines. And we're in a position to at least let you collect your reward safely. Right, so in Trinidad and Tobago, it works. We are in 35 countries around the world.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: Wow. Hello. Good Morning.
[00:28:08] Speaker C: Morning, Davy. Mr. Carmichael. Good morning, sir.
[00:28:11] Speaker A: Morning.
[00:28:11] Speaker C: I am known as Mr. C.
Let me be frank. I long for the day when Trinidad and Tobago does not need Crime Stoppers.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: I like what you said.
[00:28:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
A mechanism along those lines.
Notwithstanding that, however, let me pose a question to you.
Does Crimestoppers work?
Is it effective? Can you provide us with any statistical data on a year by year basis that suggests that the numbers surrounding Crime Stoppers are on the improver on the uptake?
I'd like to know, just to take a short to medium term look at what Crimestoppers is doing. And I know it's a multi pronged approach and Crime Stoppers is just one of several instruments in the war against crime, but I'd like to. I'm focusing on Crime Stoppers as one of those prongs and I'm asking you, is Crime Stoppers effective, Alex? Not yet, thank you.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: So, I mean, you said a couple of things, right? One of the things I like what you said is that you're long for the day when persons have to go this route to report crime. And you know, I'm also in my other incarnation, I am the administrator of Neighborhood Crime Watch throughout the country.
All right, so you find that every day, intentionally. What we do in Neighborhood Watch, what you will do in your community, if you have one, is we find a way to partner and work with the police to help report crime, to help report suspicious activity. You started the session saying if you see something, say something. And really and truly that's the active work of Neighborhood Crime Watch. We get like minded citizens, law abiding citizens to come together. We have WhatsApp chats, chats where we share information, take photographs, video footage, everything about crime taking place. And the police are on those chats. The police are involved in helping and working with the community. The police respond directly on the chats and to certainly to some of these type of crimes. So you find that that's an active thing that we do. They have monthly meetings, station council meetings, where 12 months in the year you get an opportunity to tell the police how you want to be police. So, so there's an active mechanism in place to help bridge the gap, to help bring communities and the police slaughter to develop that partnership that is absolutely necessary.
[00:30:27] Speaker B: I can't help but ask this question though. That type of partnership and participation that is happening currently, that is incredible.
But my mind is still wrapping around the fact that four men died, a home invasion was successful. I mean, we can't have eyes and ears every single place, you know, but how is it that you all are in every area? Are you all expanding what is happening?
[00:30:53] Speaker A: Right, so we are, we are, we are pretty much everywhere. All right, well again, I use the term law abiding citizens, right? Because as you know, within a lot of communities, the criminals have already infiltrated, the criminal has already seemed to be in control. And even in those kind of areas, right. There are persons who have watch groups that still active, but we do it online, we do online meetings. We don't show up and we don't make ourselves present just to safeguard and help protect citizens and so on. But, but it's an ongoing exercise. And in areas where, you know, there was a point in time where gated communities felt we didn't need Neighborhood Watch until gated communities started to get affected. Yeah, started to be invaded and gated communities are on board regular Communities are on board.
You know, there was a time I was doing 24, five neighborhood watch meetings a month telling them how to become, you know, how to think, how to safeguard themselves. You give them security awareness session, situational awareness training, help to make themselves a harder target. There's a lot of that going on. The police support that activity. But yet still, there are some people who are still fearful and I really don't give them wrong. Right, but the guy said it correct. The more people we bring on board and the more persons who are exposed to the relationship, it's something like, it's almost demystifying how they view the police because for years they've had this notion and still hear it sometimes.
[00:32:08] Speaker B: I'm not gonna tell you, you can't trust the police. You can't trust the police in this WhatsApp group and you're sending information. The police could say hey, hey, hey, we get information here. You know what you're doing.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: And that to me is still, you know, we have a, like I say, what we do is intentional. We have to keep working at it because there are still persons with that notion. But crimestoppers, we are an avenue, an individual, a group where we can say listen, call this number. It's safe and it works. Hello?
[00:32:33] Speaker B: Okay. Hello. Good morning.
[00:32:35] Speaker C: Quickly, quickly now. Gun amnesty is important thing is have a gun amnesty. If you don't have a gun amnesty, sir, will you be paying $10,000 per people? Bring it in. Very interested, must listen off it.
[00:32:50] Speaker B: But we don't have a gun amnesty.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: We've had, I mean something else has been tried. I don't know whether to successful. But you know, so, so it's, it's, it's.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: But I have a question for you though.
800 tips. Why isn't this is a private entity?
[00:33:06] Speaker A: That's correct.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: Why haven't government buying a hundred percent into your company and say, you know what, because it's in 35 other countries. Yeah. Here it. On other, even on the US lines. Call this number. Whatever, whatever.
Why, why did this idea, I mean if a citizen can have this type of technology, why not the government say listen Mr. Carmichael, let's infuse this and make this a governmental thing. Another private.
[00:33:33] Speaker A: So let's, let's, let's pull out for the, you know, we are very open in saying this. We launched in 1998, we were full blown in 99.
We had to relaunch in, in, in 2000 almost simply because funding was an issue.
Right. We have to have lines, we have to have operators we have to have buildings, we have to have resources.
And from 2000 onward to 20, 26, 26 years now, every government of the day funded crime supports program 100% almost beautiful. Right. So you could not say that the government is not beautiful or any government has not been a part. So we get a subvention every year, right.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: From government, from government to run the
[00:34:21] Speaker A: operations because they've been, I mean, you use respectful about six times since the answer. Yes. Right. And respectfully, we can say that they have not faltered in terms of the support and the funding. So while we maintain individualism and privacy in terms of who runs crime scene.
[00:34:41] Speaker B: Right.
[00:34:41] Speaker A: We would not be where we are today. We would not be able to pay rewards, run the office, do the things that we do, had it not been for the funding afforded by. By the government to the day.
[00:34:51] Speaker B: Beautiful. And what Texa was saying, where does the funds come from?
[00:34:54] Speaker A: They are on board and they are supportive.
[00:34:56] Speaker B: And this is government past and present. That's great continuance.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: And they don't take ownership of it because we have to remain anonymous. We have to, we may have. Keep that individuality.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: I. I do appreciate that. That is. That is incredible.
That is incredible.
All right, so let's take this call quickly. Hello. Good morning.
[00:35:19] Speaker C: Hello. And good morning.
[00:35:20] Speaker B: Good morning to you.
[00:35:22] Speaker C: So I would like to know, you know, you have guys just go around with this paper sheet or whatnot looking for donation and all these things, and you can know that they're prospecting in areas, right. I want to know if in the crime, supposing they pay attention to this and do they need to go to the station to get this certified with their stamp and whatnot, do the police pay attention to this and the Snowflare?
[00:35:42] Speaker B: Have a good day.
[00:35:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, while I'm not an expert, but. But of course, there are laws in terms of going around with raffle sheets and so on. It must be stamped over a certain amount and that type of thing. But. But I will tell you this. I mean, I was so happy when Covid. I wouldn't say that sounds bad.
[00:35:57] Speaker B: Well, I know, but. I understand.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: But. But what Covid did, it allows us to understand social distancing, right? Because if I could touch you, my arm reaches longer than most. Right. And if I could touch your shoulder, it means that I'm too close to you because I could rob you. I could pick your pocket. I can do so and so. So when you think of a line where people sit six feet apart, that social distancing, what it created, it had in a bit of consciousness that, yeah, you're too close to me, step back kind of thing. And for the first time, Trinidadians, as loving and accommodating as we are, took that seriously. Right? So I'm asking you this, please, whenever, you know, the only way somebody could harm you is if you get up close to them. If you open your burglar proof and you step outside, if you, you know, you wind on your glass, because they're not going to ask you a question. And in your scenario, if they come with you with a clipboard and a donation sheet. So while the clipboard and donation sheet might be bogus, the fact that you can get close to a stranger enough that they can touch you, I think is too close. In this kind of environment. I'm not saying that we need to be scared and running scared, but the kind of opportunistic crime that occurs now, we have to be really, really careful who we interact with. And for the reasons that we come close and, you know, take down all the barriers that we may have put up just to entertain this individual. Sitting in your car after, you know, you walk and you're such conscious of where you're walking, you get to the car park on Queen street there, and then you get into your car with the gate, with the garage gate open and you sit down, catching up on your taxes.
6:30 at night, you know, things people do those things still. And I'm saying those are the vulnerabilities that the criminals have come to exploit. The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5.
