Independent Senator Dr. Marlene Attzs has issued a stark warning to the Trinidad and Tobago government, cautioning against abdicating its fundamental responsibility for public safety through the proposed Home Invasion (Self-Defence and Defence of Property) Bill, 2025. During Senate deliberations on December 2, Attzs challenged the administration’s approach to combating crime, arguing that the legislation effectively shifts the burden of security from the state to ordinary citizens.
The senator directly addressed previous comments by government senator Dr. Kirk Meighoo regarding the UNC’s campaign promise to reduce crime by 50% over five years. ‘The government cannot retreat from the battle it was elected to fight,’ Attzs declared, emphasizing that public safety constitutes an essential public good that must be delivered by the state rather than privatized.
Attzs characterized the proposed stand-your-ground legislation as potentially signaling ‘a quiet retreat by the state from perhaps its most fundamental duty.’ She interpreted the bill’s underlying message as essentially telling citizens that the government acknowledges the mammoth scale of the crime problem and cannot guarantee public safety, thereby transferring the responsibility for self-defense to individuals.
The senator expressed particular concern about the legislation potentially creating a ‘license to kill’ mentality, contradicting government descriptions of the bill as empowering citizens. ‘This is not empowerment,’ Attzs argued. ‘It is the privatization of violence and the outsourcing of the state’s most sacred duty to thousands of frightened, untrained, unsupported individuals.’
Attzs further warned that the legislation would transform safety from a guaranteed public right into a ‘private gamble,’ replacing organized state-managed security with ad-hoc household-by-household defense. She noted the particular danger of disproportionate impact, explaining that ‘when violence is privatized, it is not privatized evenly,’ with resource-rich individuals able to fortify themselves while marginalized communities become more vulnerable.
Citing international research, Attzs highlighted that stand-your-ground laws typically increase rather than reduce crime rates and disproportionately harm marginalized communities. She also questioned the timing of the legislation, noting it emerges amid a ‘troubling policy vacuum’ without a coherent national crime strategy and while criminal justice institutions remain ‘on some kind of life support.’
While expressing empathy for government senator Brian Baig’s personal experience with home invasion trauma, Attzs cautioned that fear-based narratives should not form the foundation of lawmaking. The Senate continues its debate on the controversial legislation, which has sparked significant discussion about the state’s role in ensuring public safety.