THE EDITOR, Sir:
I READ with some interest a letter from Dennis Daly to your newspaper which was captioned, 'Horror of the Braeton monster'. While I do not begrudge Mr. Daly his opinion, I think there is need to examine a few of his assertions.
Most egregiously, he seeks to make the point that police killings over the last 20 years have contributed to an increase in the murder rate.
Given the propensity of our gunmen for murder most foul, it is probably more logical to assume that those killings actually reduced the murder rate rather than increased them.
Mr. Daly goes on to equate all police shootings with the Braeton incident. Unless Mr. Daly has done some research on the matter (which I think he has not) then the intimation is a half-truth at best. In many of these cases, the police have had no choice but to use deadly force. One only has to think back to that grisly day on Mountain View Avenue to be convinced.
I suggest that it is crime that is out of control, not the police. I support his call for investigations into the Braeton matter however, though I am not certain what is to be expected from such an enquiry. If indeed we have sown the wind, the people who should be attracting our interest are the sowers, not the gardeners.
I am etc.,
PAUL ELLIS
E-mail:
ellispaul@hotmail.com
St. Augustine, Trinidad
Via Go-Jamaica
