Grenada Today - The National Newspaper of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique

Frightening reports of the escalating crime situation throughout the region in particular Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, have placed a strain on personal and economic development activities for some local businessmen.

National Security Minister, Senator Einstein Louison made the statement to participants at a mini anti-crime consultation seminar held Tuesday in St. George's. According to Sen. Louison, the nightmare of kidnapping and other violent crimes have forced many people especially in the twin-island republic to rethink their travel plans.

"The situation in Trinidad and Tobago is a nightmare and in recent times the new trend of kidnapping in that country as well as Jamaica and Guyana are forcing many people to rethink their travels", he said. "I can tell you that even in our own local instance many many people, including top businessmen have been expressing very serious concerns about their travel because of this trend of kidnapping...", he added.

The government minister indicated that crime has been on the increase globally and has definitely become a major concern for every government on the planet. He pointed to the emergence of new methods in crime which have been draining the resources of most countries since they are forced to put out so many resources into combating crime.

The former military chief during the 1979-83 Grenada Revolution stated that the battle against crime has helped to affect the fight by these countries to eradicate poverty which should be the Number One priority in the world. Sen. Louison stated that criminals are becoming more and more innovative that using all different means and methods to commit crime.

He noted that crime situation in the region continues to get worst and not too long ago in Jamaica certain sections of the country had to be shut down in order to deal with the rising crime situation.

He pointed out that the situation was so explosive that the Jamaican Government had to summon the Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) to curb the problem. As it relates to Grenada, the National Security Minister confidently said that Grenada has not yet reached that kind of situation and in fact the crime rate on the island has been decreasing.

"We can say with confidence that when we look at out own trend, our crime rate has been going down. In fact comparatively speaking when we look at the high point even after Hurricane Ivan and the high point in activities in our society for instance the last christmas season, we were sure that the crime rate was much lower", he remarked.

Sen. Louison also used the opportunity to commend the local police for doing a fine job as it relates to fighting and solving crimes.