The 9 Most Overlooked Threats to a Marriage

By Kelly M. Flanagan

Clinical Psychologist, Writer, Blogger

I feel bad for marital communication, because it gets blamed for everything. For generations, in survey after survey, couples have rated marital communication as the number one problem in marriage. It's not.

Marital communication is getting a bad rap. It's like the kid who fights back on the playground. The playground supervisors hear a commotion and turn their heads just in time to see his retaliation. He didn't create the problem; he was reacting to the problem. But he's the one who gets caught, so he's sent off to the principal's office.
Or, in the case of marital communication, the therapist's office.

I feel bad for marital communication, because everyone gangs up on him, when the truth is, on the playground of marriage, he's just reacting to one of the other troublemakers who started the fight:

1. We marry people because we like who they are. People change. Plan on it. Don't marry someone because of who they are, or who you want them to become. Marry them because of who they are determined to become. And then spend a lifetime joining them in their becoming, as they join you in yours.

2. Marriage doesn't take away our loneliness. To be alive is to be lonely. It's the human condition. Marriage doesn't change the human condition. It can't make us completely unlonely. And when it doesn't, we blame our partner for doing something wrong, or we go searching for companionship elsewhere. Marriage is intended to be a place where two humans share the experience of loneliness and, in the sharing, create moments in which the loneliness dissipates. For a little while.

3. Shame baggage. Yes, we all carry it it. We spend most of our adolescence and early adulthood trying to pretend our shame doesn't exist so, when the person we love triggers it in us, we blame them for creating it. And then we demand they fix it. But the truth is, they didn't create it and they can't fix it. Sometimes the best marital therapy is individual therapy, in which we work to heal our own shame. So we can stop transferring it to the ones we love.

4. Ego wins. We've all got one. We came by it honestly. Probably sometime around the fourth grade when kids started to be jerks to us. Maybe earlier if our family members were jerks first. The ego was a good thing. It kept us safe from the emotional slings and arrows. But now that we're grown and married, the ego is a wall that separates. It's time for it to come down. By practicing openness instead of defensiveness, forgiveness instead of vengeance, apology instead of blame, vulnerability instead of strength, and grace instead of power.

5. Life is messy and marriage is life. So marriage is messy, too. But when things stop working perfectly, we start blaming our partner for the snags. We add unnecessary mess to the already inescapable mess of life and love. We must stop pointing fingers and start intertwining them. And then we can we walk into, and through, the mess of life together. Blameless and shameless.

6. Empathy is hard. By its very nature, empathy cannot happen simultaneously between two people. One partner must always go first, and there's no guarantee of reciprocation. It takes risk. It's a sacrifice. So most of us wait for our partner to go first. A lifelong empathy standoff. And when one partner actually does take the empathy plunge, it's almost always a belly flop. The truth is, the people we love are fallible human beings and they will never be the perfect mirror we desire. Can we love them anyway, by taking the empathy plunge ourselves?

7. We care more about our children than about the one who helped us make them. Our kids should never be more important than our marriage, and they should never be less important. If they're more important, the little rascals will sense it and use it and drive wedges. If they're less important, they'll act out until they are given priority. Family is about the constant, on-going work of finding the balance.

8. The hidden power struggle. Most conflict in marriage is at least in part a negotiation around the level of interconnectedness between lovers. Men usually want less. Women usually want more. Sometimes, those roles are reversed. Regardless, when you read between the lines of most fights, this is the question you find: Who gets to decide how much distance we keep between us? If we don't ask that question explicitly, we'll fight about it implicitly. Forever.

9. We don't know how to maintain interest in one thing or one person anymore. We live in a world pulling our attention in a million different directions. The practice of meditation--attending to one thing and then returning our attention to it when we become distracted, over and over and over again--is an essential art. When we are constantly encouraged to attend to the shiny surface of things and to move on when we get a little bored, making our life a meditation upon the person we love is a revolutionary act. And it is absolutely essential if any marriage is to survive and thrive.

As a therapist, I can teach a couple how to communicate in an hour. It's not complicated. But dealing with the troublemakers who started the fight? Well, that takes a lifetime.
And yet.

It's a lifetime that forms us into people who are becoming ever more loving versions of ourselves, who can bear the weight of loneliness, who have released the weight of shame, who have traded in walls for bridges, who have embraced the mess of being alive, who risk empathy and forgive disappointments, who love everyone with equal fervor, who give and take and compromise, and who have dedicated themselves to a lifetime of presence and awareness and attentiveness.
And that's a lifetime worth fighting for.

This post originally appeared on DrKellyFlanagan.com

System: Fail!

Helen Shair-Singh

Trinidad & Tobago faces a dire situation when it comes to the incidence of domestic violence. The number of brutal, and at times fatal, attacks on women and children are alarming. According to Margaret Sampson-Browne, head of the Police Victim Support Unit, over 300 women and children have died as a result of domestic violence since the Domestic Violence Act, Chapter 45:56, was enacted in 1999. One 2012 newspaper report quotes Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar as saying that in the 2009/2010 law term 12,106 new domestic violence applications were filed in that period alone.

A major contributing factor to the prevalence of this scourge can be found in the failure of those mandated to protect the victims. Many incidents are not even reported because of the lack of confidence in 'the system' and the fear of even further acts of vengeance as perpetrators remain free.

According to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women website, strategies have been introduced across the Caribbean to end domestic violence, including increasing state capacity and accountability through law reform and police training; providing shelters and hotline services; promoting zero tolerance of the widespread cultural acceptance of gender-based violence, and enhancing men's role as advocates against violence. But these strategies are either not being implemented or just not as effective as they should be.

For the victims, they are certainly not effective enough.

It also says that since 1992 there have been developments in the region's legislative system specifically geared towards enhancing the power of the courts, via protection orders, and the police to both prevent domestic violence and to protect suspected victims. It has been made mandatory for police to provide detailed reports on all allegations received, and even apply for protection orders on behalf of children or abused spouses or partners (some territories even giving police the power to arrest without warrant), but the harsh light of reality reveals a far different scenario for those seeking help. In some cases the very lack of swift and just action from the police serves to further embolden the abusers, and that fear prevents many victims from taking any action at all, and the cycle of abuse goes on, reaching into future generations.

I myself, as a witness in a DV case, have experienced the dismissive and patronizing attitude of the police. I have reported threatening behavior and harassment many times, and yet the perpetrator still walks free and continues to abuse, even within the walls of the very court itself, in the presence of his lawyer.

Another woman speaks of both public and private abuse even with a standing protection order, of going through the tedious process of obtaining summons and numerous visits to the police station to have them served, of court appearances stretching out into weeks, months, even years. She is the victim, yet all of the responsibility of making the abuser pay for his actions falls on her shoulders.

Another young mother speaks of the process as a completely dis-empowering experience, where she has been emotionally, mentally and financially victimized not just by her ex-husband, who abandoned family and home for another woman, but also by the courts, police and justice system on the whole.

A strong and intelligent woman, she expresses her own frustration:

"For years I have been at the mercy of a bully who has used every emotional and physical weapon he has to destabilize me, the mother of his children. He has kept our children beyond the agreed time on many occasions, twice during an interim court order, with no consequence. Having gotten away with it, he feels empowered to do it again and again. And everything in the legal system shuts down when court closes for vacation...only if it is deemed 'urgent' will a judge be called upon to give an order. By that time weeks have passed, the act has already been committed and there is no recourse. Nothing is done. One would assume that as a mother whose children have not returned home at the agreed time, I should be able to call the police and get some help. Instead I am told "M'am, he is de chile father right...he ain't go hurt he own children...what you worried about."

If a document has to be served, the system doesn't help because their bailiffs work only when they choose. I have to find another $750 for a private bailiff, who then relies on ME to find out when and where my ex-husband will be so that he can deliver the document. Once again, time is passing, the frustration is all on me, not him, and my children suffer more. He actually uses the inefficiency of the system to get away with his actions.

Despite having done everything: gone through the process, hearings and trial, I still have not been paid the agreed monthly child support, still can't rely on the interim court orders we have, still have to put up with this man's treatment of me, and the police still fail to get involved when they need to. I am still waiting for 'the system' to work for me. I do not fight for myself, it is for the protection and care of our children. Why has the system failed me?"

And all of these experiences are from middle-class women.... educated, independent, resourceful, intelligent, capable women, who have jobs, social lives, networks of family & friends. What of the women who live in far worse circumstances, with far less means and resources? You don't have to stretch your imagination to know ... just read the newspaper on any given day. You get attention when you either die or kill an abuser. In a small and wealthy country, with a woman as Prime Minister, this is completely unacceptable.

There are support organizations in place, even the Victim Support Unit of the police service itself, but it is quite clear that there is only so much they can do. The system needs to work to support their efforts. What the UN Women's site claims is happening needs to actually happen and we need to stop ignoring the fact the it is the very failure of the system that allows this scourge to exist to the extent that it does.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/helen-shairsingh/system-fail_b_5908422.html

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month — a time to recognize 

intimate partner violence as a major public health problem 

and become part of its solution.

 

Presidential Proclamation --- National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, 2014

NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH, 2014

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

 

Domestic violence affects every American.  It harms our communities, weakens the foundation of our Nation, and hurts those we love most.  It is an affront to our basic decency and humanity, and it must end.  During National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we acknowledge the progress made in reducing these shameful crimes, embrace the basic human right to be free from violence and abuse, and recognize that more work remains until every individual is able to live free from fear.

Last month, our Nation marked the 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).  Before this historic law, domestic violence was seen by many as a lesser offense, and women in danger often had nowhere to go.  But VAWA marked a turning point, and it slowly transformed the way people think about domestic abuse.  Today, as 1 out of every 10 teenagers are physically hurt on purpose by someone they are dating, we seek to once again profoundly change our culture and reject the quiet tolerance of what is fundamentally unacceptable.  That is why Vice President Joe Biden launched the 1is2many initiative to engage educators, parents, and students while raising awareness about dating violence and the role we all have to play in stopping it.  And it is why the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault and the newly launched "It's On Us" campaign will address the intersection of sexual assault and dating violence on college campuses.

Since VAWA's passage, domestic violence has dropped by almost two-thirds, but despite these strides, there is more to do.  Nearly two out of three Americans 15 years of age or older know a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault, and domestic violence homicides claim the lives of three women every day.  When women and children are deprived of a loving home, legal protections, or financial independence because they fear for their safety, our Nation is denied its full potential.

My Administration is committed to reaching a future free of domestic violence.  We are building public-private partnerships to directly address domestic violence in our neighborhoods and workplaces, and we are helping communities use evidence-based screening programs to prevent domestic violence homicides.  At the same time, the Federal Government is leading by example, developing policies to ensure domestic violence is addressed in the Federal workforce.  New protections under the Affordable Care Act provide more women with access to free screenings and counseling for domestic violence.  And when I proudly reauthorized VAWA last year, we expanded housing assistance; added critical protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans; and empowered tribal governments to protect Native American women from domestic violence in Indian Country.

Our Nation's success can be judged by how we treat women and girls, and we must all work together to end domestic violence.  As we honor the advocates and victim service providers who offer support during the darkest moments of someone's life, I encourage survivors and their loved ones who are seeking assistance to reach out by calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or visiting www.TheHotline.org.

This month, we recognize the survivors and victims of abuse whose courage inspires us all.  We recommit to offering a helping hand to those most in need, and we remind them that they are not alone.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2014 as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  I call on all Americans to speak out against domestic violence and support local efforts to assist victims of these crimes in finding the help and healing they need.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this  thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth.

BARACK OBAMA

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/30/presidential-proclamation-national-domestic-violence-awareness-month-201

Woman Doused with Acid

By Susan Mohammed Story

Created: Sep 23, 2014 at 9:39 PM ECT

A FYZABAD mother was doused with acid on Monday hours after police intervened in a quarrel between her and a close male relative.

Linda Thomas, a mother of six, of New City Avenue, John Jules Trace, suffered burns to the eyes and mouth and is being treated at hospital.

Thomas’s son, Larry Thomas, 38, said he was told his mother has not been able to open her eyes since the incident and she was expected to be visi­ted by an eye specialist.

Larry Thomas said last month his mother and the male relative ended their relationship of some 40 years.

“They divided up the house and she went to live in the back and he in the front. He was always a high-tempered and quarrelsome person, but lately he started to get violent and fly off the handle.

“He started to mash things up and pelt things in the house, like the microwave and the blender,” said the son.

Thomas said on Monday he heard the man quarrelling with his mother and, minutes later, saw police officers in front of their home.

“I don’t know what the argument was about because I was across the road, but when I saw the police I came across to the house. The police warned him to behave himself, but he was still acting ‘hyper’. Eventually the police calmed him down and they left,” he said.

“After a while, I went to talk to him. I told him this stupidness has to stop because you lived with this woman for 40-something years and you cannot be acting like this. He said ‘yea’, but apparently he had something else in mind, like he was scheming already”, said Larry Thomas.

He said around 6.30 p.m. his mother was sitting on a chair in the living room when she was attacked.

“She was cleaning bhajee to cook, and her two grandchildren were close by. He came up the step and threw a container with the liquid at her face. The children started to bawl for help and he run down the step and gone.

“My sister and brother ran out and saw her (Linda) holding her face. They took her to the sink and tried to wash it off, but she said her skin was burning. They took her to the hospital,” he said. “Hours later I sat down on the chair where she was sitting and my neck started to burn like if it was on fire. So I could just imagine how she felt,” said the son.

Larry Thomas said he found a bottle labelled “muriatic acid” in the yard and he handed it over to the police.

A senior investigator said the bottle and contents will be taken to Forensic Science Centre, St James, for testing.

Police said up until yesterday evening, they were searching for the suspect.

WPC Vincent is investiga­ting.

 

Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Woman-doused-with-acid-276864791.html

Join Us This Saturday

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The following is based on a true story

When one hears the term 'domestic violence', the immediate perception is of physical abuse with emotional, mental and psychological abuse running a close second. The reason, of course, is that physical abuse is the one most easily recognisable. There is, however, an even more insidious form of domestic violence and that is "financial abuse."

Most women associate abuse with physical harm when, in fact, the most common type of abuse is verbal. The result is it often takes even very intelligent women some time to comprehend that what they see as control and meanness are really manifestations of financial abuse.

Like other forms of domestic violence, financial abuse is usually visited on a woman by her male partner and is often coupled with verbal abuse.

Since women are normally the homemakers in a relationship, and are sometimes unemployed outside of the home, the male partner - who is usually the main or sole breadwinner - often reckons that his paycheck gives him rights above and beyond those of the woman.

The removal of most or all financial support from partners who have dared to separate from them is invariably the big stick that many men employ to beat these women. Very often, it is this threat of indigency that keeps a woman imprisoned within an empty and odious relationship until the day arrives when she cannot remember why she is with a man she neither likes nor respects. However, there are some who say "caution be damned" and finally free themselves of the years of abuse that hangs about their necks like a good albatross.

A superficial friendship of many years evolved into an intimate relationship while Frieda Simmons was on holiday from her home in London.

However, recognising the baggage that this man carried, she returned home to her Chelsea flat and resumed a very comfortable lifestyle. Frieda held a prestigious job in that city, which she not only enjoyed but for which she was very well paid, and was not inclined toward leaving any of this. Soon, however, Mr.Man - let us call him Rex - arrived in London asking her for a permanent commitment. Despite her own misgivings, and that of her friends and family, she was persuaded that "it could work since he appears to love you very much." At the age of 37, fancying herself "in love", with dreams of a family of her own, coupled with the advice of her guru, Frieda made the plunge.

Before marriage, she asked her new husband for three things: that he would never take her for granted; that their home in Trinidad would always have fresh flowers like her home in London; and that she would return to England regularly so that she would not lose her British citizenship. To her dismay and disappointment, these were the first three things that he took from her.

It did not take the six months that her sister had predicted she would last, before Frieda knew she had made a huge mistake and that she was living with a man who was secretive, controlling, mean and miserly. What to do? She had given up her job, surrendered her flat and removed all traces of her life in London. Moreover, she was pregnant with their first child.

So she decided that there was 'niente da fare' and that she would lie in the bed she had made.

Additionally, every attempt she made to be financially independent was thwarted since doling out money was how he maintained control.

Over the years, Frieda would continue to discover that each time she thought Rex had been as mean as he could, he managed to surprise her even more.

Additionally, every attempt she made to be financially independent was thwarted since doling out money was how he maintained control.

This woman who used to shop in the most upscale emporiums in London - Harrod's, Jackson's of Piccadilly, Fortnum & Mason and Harvey Nichols - and who used to earn in less than a fortnight more than Rex's monthly salary, now found herself having to go cap in hand to him for funds to purchase her toiletries and underwear.

Meanwhile, this man, whose pride in himself and confidence she had restored, for whom she had made a home - largely furnished by her - now had the gall to question her spending, while he kept his earnings shrouded in secrecy.

What bothered her was the fact that as the years passed and his earnings, etc. increased and they were indeed more comfortable materially, his miserliness continued.

While Frieda was expected to make do with the same amount of housekeeping money as the years went by and prices increased, while he begrudged even bringing a pizza home from time to time, Rex was now able to afford to drink all evening with his newfound friends at various watering holes, where he picked up the tab.

At these times, and despite the fact that there were two young children awaiting his arrival home, Rex kept his mobile phone securely switched off …

It took 21 years before she summed up the courage to put an end to the abuse; 21 years in which as Frieda says, quoting the words of Amy Tan - "I did not lose myself all at once. I rubbed out my face over the years washing away my pain, the same way carvings on stone are worn down by water."

Over the years, Rex had constantly tried to put Frieda down, making her out to his 'friends' to be an 'arch bitch' and himself the hard done by, long-suffering, gentleman Jim. Yet a few months after their separation, he confessed to a mutual friend that "Frieda has many friends, I have none." One wonders why.

Also, over the years, Freida had emotionally 'shut off' from Rex; she no longer loved him but even worse, she did not even like him. Still, the decision to end the relationship was not easy.

When she finally took the decision to separate, the abuse reached new heights. Within months he had stopped all financial support. This was followed in quick succession by the termination of the telephone and cable service, discontinuation of gas and repairs for the car she drove and finally, the security service. He waited until the electricity bill had accumulated for three periods before forwarding it to her, marked "For your attention and payment."It was a horrendous time.

However, Freida was surrounded by friends who loved and admired her and who were determined that with their emotional and other support, she would put her life back on track.

She began to write a column for a weekly newspaper and soon her editor encouraged her to write more than one column per week "so you can earn a bit more." There were others who stepped in to help financially. Knowing that she would not accept charity, they created work for her so that she could earn a salary.

When Rex stopped the garage from fixing the car she drove - which remained in his name - one benefactor gave her enough money to ensure that the vehicle was roadworthy, on condition that she never spoke of it; a former employer transferred money from his offshore account in the Channel Islands so that "you can kickstart your life again". She had last seen this man in 1970…

Frieda promptly bought a computer, which together with a roadworthy vehicle, are the tools with which she has put her life back together.

It has not been as difficult as Rex and his cohorts would have liked. They could not understand that between the ages of 28 to 37, she had "been there, done that".

It has been eight years since Frieda took the decision to remove from her life this "emotionally-constipated" man who neither sustained her in any way, nor made her happy. The road has not been easy but if you had seen her over the years, you would never have known what obstacles she was trying to overcome.

Frieda insists that no one has to know that when you smile at them, you are 'grinding like a mill' on the inside or as she puts it, "Be like the swan - floating gently across the surface of the lake but paddling furiously underneath."

On the eve of Mother's Day this year the following message was left on her answering machine: "Frieda, this is …. I am calling to wish you a very happy Mother's Day for tomorrow as I may be a bit busy. But you've been a splendid mother and, despite everything, you've kept things together, and my prayers and love are with you tomorrow and for the rest of your life."

A tribute like this from someone for whom she has the greatest respect and affection tells Frieda that the decision she took to end 21 years of abuse was, and remains, the right one.

Rex is now married to a woman who tried to blackmail him with a ghost pregnancy while she was married and living in New York with her husband and two sons. His friends describe her as "classy … she removes her chewing gum and sticks it on your dining table before eating!"

Frieda, on the other hand, leads a very simple but genteel life, surrounded by "a few good men and women" who bring much joy and laughter into her life.

Times are still challenging and there is always the constant worry over bills but in the end, she has proven that no woman has to take abuse, in whatever form it is dished out. When Frieda looks back at her life, there are a few regrets but none where Rex is concerned.

She believes that in his own way he may have loved her but his kind of love was claustrophobic and controlling, which in the end can be dangerous and unhealthy. Rex expressed his love by removing from Frieda all the aspects of her life that brought her happiness so that he could 'secure his asset' by making her totally dependent on his good will.

Frieda recognises that an element of pride kept her in this odious relationship since as she says, "I never wanted my children to grow up without a father."

However, she has not come out of this abusive relationship empty-handed. She has two wonderful sons whom she describes as "decent, upright young men", whom she loves and adores. They in turn, appear to be quite fond of her.

Frieda maintains that, in the final analysis, you alone are responsible for the quality of your life and while she no longer has the comfortable lifestyle she once enjoyed, she has fought for and regained her independence, financially and emotionally and otherwise. Frieda has put an end to long years of abuse. And at the end of the day, she has emerged victorious.

Some of the signs of financial abuse include

• Hides all income and earnings
• Constant criticism about the way or amount of money you spend
• Constant complaints about bills & other financial commitments
• Makes all decisions about money
• Frustrates your efforts to become financially independent
• Pressures you for sex in exchange for financial largesse
• Is grudging and miserly towards children also
• Makes a big show in public of how generous he is.

Did You Know?

Research shows that one in every four women is a victim of domestic abuse - including physical, verbal and emotional abuse - in the Caribbean and Latin America

In 1998 a Guardian newspaper article indicated that some 100 women were murdered in Jamaica and that most of the deaths occurred "as a result of domestic violence”. The UNDP reports that 79 women were murdered as a result of domestic violence between 1990 and 1996 in Trinidad and Tobago.

- Yvonne Teelucksingh

Source: http://www.caribbeanbelle.com/body-mind-spirit/domestic-violence.php

Top cop: We’re in High Gear to Stop Murders

  

Kevon Felmine

Published: Friday, August 22, 2014

 

Despite police claims of a reduction in serious crimes, acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams says there has been a five per cent increase of murders being committed with guns. Responding to questions from Port-of-Spain residents at the T&T Police Service town meeting at Queen’s Royal College on Wednesday night, Williams said the police would increase its efforts over the next four months to ensure this year’s murder toll did not surpass 2013’s figure. While reports of rape and larceny offences had decreased, he said he recognised murders were the most concern to citizens.

He admitted while serious crimes were down, there were more murders, which is one offence under serious crimes, for the first eight months of this year, as compared to the same period last year. Williams said: “As an organisation we do in fact know that the society is most impacted by murders and it’s in that context, we have launched a massive medium-term plan... policing strategy around violent crime hot spots. “It is geared heavily toward prevention where we have seen the greatest number of violent crimes and we are focusing on those locations that we can drive the homicide rate down, firstly from the point of prevention. “Trinidad and Tobago may experience an average of 70 per cent, but in 2014, we are experiencing around 75 per cent of the murders being committed by firearms.

As an organisation we have noted that and we have been pursuing the recovery of firearms as our number one priority.” He added: “What we have found is that in 2014 we have taken off the streets, out of the hands of criminals, in excess of 380 firearms. “It is the highest number of firearms taken off the street in any comparable period in our organisation’s history. “We have had more activities because we know guns are killing people and we need to get guns out of the hands of the criminals. “In 2014, we have had high activities on that... we are working and over the next two months you will see us working harder, doubling, tripling, quadrupling our efforts at times, all geared towards ensuring that very said barometer of murders, does not go beyond 2013 figures.”

Gang violence  claims 91
Out of the 273 murders that occurred up to Wednesday, Williams said 91 lives were claimed due to gang violence. He said most of those gang violence were also linked to robberies. He said 20 people have been killed as a result of domestic violence. As residents of Scott Bushe Street, Woodbrook, made emotional appeals for a greater police presence due to an onslaught by bandits, public information officer Wayne Mystar called on citizens to use the emergency numbers.

However, residents said whether they contact the Emergency 999 numbers, they did not get through. Williams blamed that on a lack of proper equipment and staff. He said the Emergency Call Centre would be upgraded soon and staff trained to better deal with the public. He explained: “There are two major disconnects, one has to do with the quality of technology and the second one has to do with the quality of staff. “As it relates to the quality of technology, there is an entire upgrade that is rolling out now in relation to our Emergency Call Centre. ‘New technology would have been brought in with what is referred to as the Harris Project. “With the new technology, we also have to work on the staff so that we don’t have the challenge of having high quality technology to provide the service, but the staff is failing on us.

“So we are working on the staff as the second part of the programme as I’m hoping that come September or October when we are having our next meeting, you can call 999 and get good quality help.” Despite T&T crime problem, Williams said there were communities where there were no crimes. He listed Matelot and some areas in Tobago as crime-free zones and said the Police Service would seek to add other parts of T&T to that list.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2014-08-22/top-cop-we%E2%80%99re-high-gear-stop-murders