Parliament has begun debating the State of Emergency and a motion to extend it by three months.

Kicking things off was Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who insisted that it was necessary, due to the threat of an increase in gang warfare and violence.

The SoE was declared after two incidents hours apart: one saw one person shot dead outside the Besson Street Police Station, while the other claimed five lives at Pritzgar Lands.

Dr Rowley also claimed that criminals no longer fear the police, to the point where – in some areas – officers close up the station at night.

Also contributing to the debate was Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who criticized the Government of failing to act despite years of criminal activity.

She also accused the PM of having no plans to deal with crime after the end of the SoE.

Mrs Persad-Bissessar also called for updates on previously announced anti-crime initiatives such as the operationalisation of a DNA bank, re-engineering the national CCTV network, introduction of electronic monitoring and the use of jammers and grabbers at the nation’s prisons.

She also wants the PM to follow-up on the previous move to designate crime as a public health issue.