After recent attacks on vendors, including where one was shot a week ago, Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green has said that the City Constabulary Department has improved security at Bourda and the other markets in the city.
On March 7, 30-year-old father of three, Saheed King of Maida, Corentyne, Berbice was shot to his stomach when he went to retrieve goods he had left near the vehicle owned by another vendor at the market. He was robbed of $200,000 while two others were robbed of $320,000 along with a cell phone and a quantity of jewellery.
This incident has caused some anxiety among vendors at the Bourda. Many of them explained that while there is frequently a “lil snatch and run,” there had been nothing of the magnitude of the shooting. In most instances, one vendor said, it would be the customers who would fall victim to the petty robberies, with vendors being preyed upon less frequently.
A majority of the vendors refused to speak to this newspaper and only indicated that “is those who like talk these things is happen to.”
Meanwhile, Chase-Green on Monday stated that they are trying to improve security measures by increasing the number of patrols in the market areas. With little manpower, she said, the council is doing all within its power to prevent such crimes in the city.
She noted that in the city’s budget, there is money provided for the purchase of weapons and ammunition to be used by the patrols. “This is a major concern for us because the vendors, to some extent, are our responsibility because the markets are ours, so we have to provide some sort of security for all our markets,” she said.
Chase-Green reiterated that while it has been suggested that private security firms be hired to compensate for the shortage of manpower in the constabulary, it is not possible as the council currently already owes money to a security company.
“We did this in the past and weren’t able to upkeep the payments. Right now, we are in liability of $19M to them, so we couldn’t go forward and hire another security firm when we haven’t completed payments for that company,” she explained.
