ICOPA XIV - Trinidad 2012
Official Statement by Anthony P. Gonzales and Catherine Ali, ICOPA Coordinators
Our Ref: 10/96 12thJuly, 2012
Dear Friends of ICOPA,
Thank you all for presenting and for participating in four days of dialogue at ICOPA 14, at The University of The West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago. There have been many positive responses and the organizing team enjoys the satisfaction of a job well done. An enormous amount of work was undertaken by Liz Griffith, Marilyn Ramon-Fortuné, Keshan Latchman, Gerard Modeste, Adrian Alexander and Jacqueline Roberts on a voluntary basis, for a cause they had never heard of up to a few months ago, and have come to appreciate as deserving of their energy. They are an exemplary team.
Dr. Anthony Gonzales, Interim Director of the Institute of International Relations, provided a home for the international conference at the University and saw its practical value particularly as many countries can no longer afford prisons and have not considered alternatives. His acceptance, and the support of the Principal, Professor Clement Sankat and Mrs. Elizabeth Mc Comie, effectively directed our initial planning efforts and gave status to the conference. Consequently we attracted students and staff from the Police Academy, the Prison Training College, and the Youth Training Centre, in addition to Criminology representatives from UWI, UTT and COSTATT - all of whom want to move forward together and continue the conversation in regular local fora. Perhaps we could rotate a half-day symposium through these venues at regular intervals.
