There were 5,439 murders in Trinidad and Tobago from 2011 to 2022.

The sobering statistic was provided by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley as he delivered the welcome address on day one of regional symposium on crime and violence, being held in Port of Spain.

“In 2011 we lost 352 lives and by 2022 the annual count was over 600, a new record, already being challenged by the murder rate for 2023. Except for Covid, in a pandemic, none of the listed dangerous diseases have taken lives like this in our population,” Prime Minister Rowley said. 

Reflecting on the theme of the two-day symposium: ‘Violence as a Public Health Issue: the Crime Challenge’, Dr. Rowley provided figure amounts to paint the picture of how crime and violence impacts public health and ultimately, a country’s economic strength. 

“For the thousands of wounded, victims and perpetrators alike, a surgical intervention to the head costs approximately $170,000, a surgical intervention for a chest wound would cost about $135,000. A shot to the leg requiring surgical intervention would cost just under $100,000 and a leg shot without surgical intervention would cost about $40,000 in medical care and attention. All of these frequent daily incurred costs are to be borne by the taxpayers at every level from scarce revenues diverted from other more deserving productive priorities,” he said.

Meanwhile, amid calls for National Security Miniser Fitzgerald Hinds to be removed from his role, PM Rowley noted that with all the people who have held the portfolio under both PNM and UNC administrations, violence has not abated.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, just look at media reports. They appear to be telling us that across the region, territories are under siege from the acts of crime and violence from elements of our own society, just minorities, who are today creating larger atmospheres of fear, despondency, trauma, surrender, and hopelessness, among us all. This is a battle in which we must all be engaged. This is a war that we cannot afford to lose,” PM Rowley added.

“Ole talk is cheap, we know that but let us try and extract some light from the expressions of the next two days, in the fervent hope and expectation that the beast of violence which has stalked us for virtually all our existence in this blue Caribbean Sea, will be starved of its sustenance, condemned to wither and die so that we all may live in peace, safety and harmony from the home to the school to the streets to the borders,” he said.