ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses the two questions of youth and age and of policing, first, in each case, descriptively and then to consider the harm that can result from the importation of false understandings. It considers the benefits for Western theorizing of moving beyond that form of criminological accidentalism which presumes the applicability of 'our' theories to all 'normal' societies. Official policy in Trinidad and Tobago in late 1997 was to move towards community policing. Senior officers in the municipalities are aware of the tensions inherent in community policing. The police/Chamber of Commerce scheme was got off the ground by the efforts of an enthusiastic and skilled police constable working in conjunction with a group conceived as a superordinate advisory committee. Municipal police chiefs believed that policing was often used as a short-term solution for political and administrative problems, such as unemployment, homelessness, vagrancy and mental illness.