Dear Editor,

Although over the recent years, the Anna Regina Police Station has undergone some remarkable and positive improvement in its fleet of vehicles and infrastructure, the poor quality of various services offered there remains an underlying issue which needs to be addressed urgently.

Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee who has been a truly dedicated and hardworking minister and has done much to improve the quality of policing offered to the public at all stations in the country, must be commended for his efforts, especially in the area of crime awareness. However, one major problem which remains unresolved is the proper administration of the Anna Regina Police Station. Frustrated people like me when lodging a complaint to the officers at this station about constant noise nuisance are being ignored. There have been numerous complaints about this station. Yet there seems to be little done to help the plight of the public, especially the poor and disabled. Policemen allegedly accept  `a small piece’ from the perpetrators to settle matters outside, this would mean that if you

give the police a  `small piece’ then your matter is closed and the perpetrators will enjoy a bit more comfort. I strongly condemn this.

Policemen are employed to provide a service to the public and are often accused of misusing their office to extract money from the poor. Some policemen on the whole at this station are rude and speak to the public in a demeaning manner. Most of these policemen feel as if they are doing you a favour by taking your complaints and acting on it. Little do they realise that it is our taxpayers’ money which goes into paying them their salaries. It is my fervent hope that our Honourable Minister of Home Affairs, who is much respected in the security fraternity, notes some of my concerns and realises that not all is rosy as it seems at the Anna Regina Police Station.

The Minister might have the right approach, but if he doesn’t have the right policemen in place to run this station, then all his efforts will go to waste. First and foremost, I think that these policemen at this station should go through some appropriate training on how to talk and deal with serious matters. For too long there has been a bad image at this police station due to negligence and this need to be corrected urgently.

Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
Former Deputy Mayor
Anna Regina Town Council