Griffith: Unruly boys arrested trying to spoil carnival

Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith lambasted irresponsible parents after several young boys no older than 16 were arrested while trying to disrupt the Carnival celebrations.

The commissioner, during a walkabout with national security heads on Tuesday in Port of Spain, said the boys’ bad behaviour was the only blemish on an otherwise safe Carnival.

“They came out with a plan to disrupt Carnival,” said Griffith, “To steal phones and beat up people.”

The commissioner blamed irresponsible parents, saying there was only so much the police and security services could do.

“What amazed me is that these are young boys. Where are their parents? Where are their guardians? That is irresponsible. We could do all the policing. The minister could put down all the policies to lock down a country but if you have irresponsible parents or guardians sending their 13-year-old son out without knowing where he was and what he is doing. Adults need to be responsible, because when things go wrong that is when they will say we too wicked.”

Both the commissioner and national security minster said aside from the unruly boys, Carnival 2020 was a safe one.

Griffith said police had a 97 per cent turnout this year.

National Security Minister Young added that the bottle ban had seen good results.