Three Gs Driving Crime: Homeland Security Minister Urges Action Before It’s Too Late
Guns, girls, and gold. These are what the Minister of Homeland Security, Roger Alexander, calls the “Three Gs” driving at-risk youth into crime.
At the Ministry of Homeland Security’s seminar on Vulnerable Youth, the Minister asked how society can steer young people away from the influences that lead them into crime.
« How do we move away the youths from the three Gs? You know what’s the three Gs? Guns, girls and gold. How do we move them away from that? What could you say to them that will move them away from that? Do you have money to give them free? »
Turning his attention to the parents of these at-risk youth, Minister Alexander posed a question for them.
« What have you, as a parent, done to change the mindset? Did you give your children the foundation that is necessary? That no street, no gold, no girls, no gun could influence them otherwise and let them know that they are wasting their time to influence you. I am an adult male and to date I have never took one drink of alcohol. I am an adult male and never, one day, placed anything close to a cigarette by my lips. »
Meanwhile, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Psychologists, Victoria Siewnarine-Geelalsingh, said the problem did not originate with these young people.
« Criminality, violence, delinquency, these are not abstract phenomena occurring in a vacuum. But these are cumulative outcomes of a thousand small failures and missed opportunities. Opportunities that we missed, all of us, in this room. Those moments where we, as a collective, looked away. »
The Ministry’s seminar focused on understanding the impact of crime on vulnerable young people, the State’s response, as well as the treatment of emotional and behavioural issues.
