“More women have been affected by sex crimes than those who have not. Trinidad and Tobago would be no different.” This is according to Police Commissioner, who says it is in this vein that the Trinidad and Tobago has undertaken to launch a Sexual Offences Unit within the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS).

The timing of the launch comes on the heels of an anonymous page on the social media platform Twitter, in which women have been submitting stories of sexual abuse, naming their alleged perpetrators. 

However while Griffith believes victims of sexual violence deserve due justice, he is concerned that the ‘name and shame’ method can hurt police investigations into the cases. He called the action  “irresponsible”.

“If it is that you have enough information, you don’t blast it on social media. By the formation of such a unit now, you can bring it to us and we will launch an investigation and we will verify whether it is rum shop talk or whether it is enough that can warrant us conducting an investigation to target such a perpetrator and bring him to justice,” Griffith said.

The Unit, Griffith said, has the potential to solve cold cases of sexual assault, through introduced measures such as swabbing. 

“Persons will now when held and arrested, we’ll be doing swabbing. The swabbing of that individual can actually go back years to assist in even solving cold cases,” he said.