Gangs in Trinidad and Tobago

• Author: Randy Seepersad/Dianne Williams
• Profession: Criminologist in the Department of Behavioural Sciences at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago/Coordinator of the Unit for Social Problems Analysis and Policy Development (USPAP)
• Pages: 75-103

The Small Arms Survey (2010) indicates that Trinidad and Tobago

now rivals Jamaica as one of the most violent countries in the Caribbean,

with the annual number of murders rising by over 500 per cent within

the past ten years Indeed oficial crime data from the Ministry of

National Security of Trinidad and Tobago indicate that there are long-

term increases over time for all major crimes except burglary and, that

in the case of sexual offences and kidnappings, there have been noted

decreases within the last ive to six years see table  in this book

Very little is known about gangs in Trinidad and Tobago and, thus far,

researchers have failed to systematically examine the extent to which

gangs contribute to the current crime problem in the country.

This chapter examines the nature and extent of the gang problem

in Trinidad and Tobago and assesses the impact of criminal gangs on

violent crime. Recommendations to deal with the gang problem in

Trinidad and Tobago are also developed. The discussion draws from a

range of data sources including oficial crime and gang data from the

Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, data from the Besson Street Gang

Intelligence Criminal History Project,1 data from Charles Katz and David

Choate (2010),2 and victimization survey data gathered for this study

from a nationally representative sample of 1,595 adults in Trinidad and

Tobago.

While there are controversies about the deinitions of gangs a

distinction must be made between social groupings which may refer

to themselves as gangs, but which do not engage in illegal activity, and

social groupings which engage in illegal activity. This discussion focuses

solely on the latter and adopts the deinition of gangs used by the United

Nations Development Programme UNDP  The UNDP deines a

gang as ‘any durable, street-oriented youth group whose involvement in

illegal activity is part of their group identity’ (67). Here, durability refers

to the persistence of the group beyond just a few months, while street-

oriented means that the group spends a substantial amount of time on

the streets and in public places. The term youth, in this context, refers to

young adults between the ages of 13 and 25.

Gangs in Trinidad and Tobago

76 CRIME & SECURITY

Data from the Crime and Problem Analysis branch of the Trinidad and

Tobago Police Service and Katz and Choate (2010) concur that there were

approximately 95 gangs in Trinidad and Tobago and approximately 1,269

gang members, with the majority of gangs concentrated in Port of Spain

and the Western and Northern Police Divisions. More recent data from the

TTPS indicate that in 2014 there were approximately 92 gangs and 1,699

gang members. Katz and Choate further indicate that approximately 83

per cent of gang members are of African descent, 13 per cent of East

Indian descent and four per cent of other ethnic backgrounds. All of the

gangs in Trinidad and Tobago are male dominated, with about 87 per

cent comprised of adults. Two thirds of gangs have between six and 50

members while 95 per cent of gangs are comprised of citizens of Trinidad

and Tobago. The majority of gangs in Trinidad and Tobago (86 per cent)

have a group name, while 61 per cent refer to themselves as a gang, 26 per

cent as a crew, and 4.2 per cent as a clip or unit. A large proportion (88

per cent) claim turf while 75 per cent defend their turf. The vast majority

(85 per cent) do not have special symbols or identifying clothing and,

almost without exception, illegal activity is accepted by all gang members.

Twenty-six per cent of gangs in Trinidad and Tobago locate their date of

origin prior to 2000, while the remainder originated after 2000. Gangs

in Trinidad and Tobago are typically smaller than gangs in Latin America

and the United States (US) and typically do not have linkages to gangs in

other parts of the region or to gangs in other countries. This contrasts

with some of the larger gangs in Latin America which have connections

to other gangs within their region and in the US (Katz and Choate 2010;

Wells, Katz and Kim 2010).

The Besson Street Gang Intelligence Criminal History Project offers

rare insight into the nature and composition of gangs in Trinidad and

Tobago. In this project 368 gang members were interviewed with data

collected in 2005. The age distribution of the sample gives an indication of

the typical age ranges of gang members.3 The majority of gang members

were young adults between the ages of  and  More speciically 

per cent were between the ages of 18 and 21, 25.4 per cent between the

ages of 22 and 25 and 33.7 per cent between the ages of 26 and 35. Only

a small proportion of the sample (5.3 per cent) were 17 or younger at the

time of interview, whereas eight per cent of the sample were between the

ages of 36 and 45 and 1.5 per cent of the sample were between the ages of

46 and 55. Of the sample used in the Besson Street project, 87.5 per cent

were of African descent, 0.8 per cent of East Indian descent and 1.9 per

cent of mixed descent, while the ethnicities of 9.5 per cent of the sample