Overview

• On July 18, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar declared the second state of emergency in seven months to counter a coordinated prison-based threat
• The measure follows an intelligence report that inmates used contraband cellphones to plan assassinations of senior police, judiciary and prosecution staff
• Under the emergency, police can conduct searches and make arrests without warrants and citizens face no curfew
• Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro ordered the relocation of key gang leaders from a maximum-security prison to sever their external communication links
• Last year’s record 624 homicides contrast with a decline to 214 so far this year even as Attorney General John Jeremie warns of a resurgence in gang-related killings and kidnappings