About 20 residents most of whom were taxi drivers, turned up at the Diamond Community Centre for the forum with Divisional Commander, Assistant Commissioner George Vyphuis, other senior ranks and police representatives.
One of the officers told this newspaper, that ranks went to communities from Diamond to Friendship and informed residents of the meeting. They even distributed flyers.
Vyphuis in his opening remarks said he was disappointed at the poor turnout as it was supposed to be a “licks forum” where residents have the opportunity to not only voice their dissatisfaction with the work of the police but to submit proposals for an improved relationship.
He told the small gathering that the police are committed to serving the public and as such there needs to be a good relationship hence the need for a “Face the Community” meeting.
According to the commander, the focus of the police includes ensuring that communities are safe and working with young people to ensure that they are guided along the right path.
He noted that the residents also have a part to play in ensuring they live in a safe environment and he subsequently urged those persons between ages 18 and 40 to become members of a Community Policing Group (CPG). Currently 14 such applications are being processed after which those persons will undergo one month of training.
“We are here to face the community so that you can tell us where we are going wrong. I am not too happy with the turnout of the Diamond area where there are too many petty crimes,” the commander stated before stressing that if the police and the residents work at a unit, these crimes will decrease.
He also stated that the ‘A’ Division is also working on improving courtesy among its ranks as this is the hallmark of professionalism. Response time to reports is another area that is currently being addressed.
Wayne Lindo, a taxi driver, was the first to speak. His concern was the need for a car park in the area. According to him, once construction works have been completed on the service station and a bank, they will have nowhere to park their vehicles. In response he was told that the establishment of a car park was not the responsibility of the police but his concerns would be noted and passed on to the relevant authorities.
Another hire car driver, Michael Harris stated that a lot of private hire cars are operating in the area and the situation is “getting worse every day”.
According to another man, some of the cars would only pick up schoolchildren and would pack them in the car which would have music blasting at the highest level. He stated that at times there are at least three schoolchildren in the front seat and another five at the back.
Inspector Ramesh Ashram, who is responsible for traffic in that area, pleaded with the drivers and the other residents to help ranks catch and prosecute these persons who are operating the illegal service.
He urged them to record the licence plate numbers of these cars and pass them on to the police.
Ashram, said too that though this situation exists, the police are not getting the cooperation of the travelling public.
He said that it is such persons who encourage, these private hire cars to operate by travelling with them. Several drivers agreed to do this but one said “me ain’t gon talk on nobody”.
The inspector stated that persons who were travelling in a car that crashed into a concrete culvert on Saturday morning resulting in the death of Cheryl David, told ranks that the driver was offering them a drop to the road head and did not collect money from them. Ashram said that their investigations revealed otherwise.
“That woman that died has nothing to get. You travel with private hire cars and you get nothing if you are killed or injured,” Vyphuis told the residents.
Vyphuis, in addressing the conduct of some ranks, said that some do break the law but at some point they will have to face the music. He said that ranks cannot be breaking the law and expect the public to do the right thing.
A resident of Diamond, New Scheme told the commander that area needs more patrols as two vehicles are not enough and that music from a rum shop was affecting residents. Vyphuis said that he would see how best these situations could be remedied. He later commended the CPGs for their hard work.
Nelli Gordon, the chairperson of the Grove/Diamond New Scheme, CPG, told the police officials that the non-functioning of the group at Grove is affecting their work. She said that this group has between 17-20 rural constables and yet they are not functioning. She explained that as a result of this her CPG is under tremendous pressure which is unfair.
Her concerns were noted and will be addressed.
