Following a spate of armed robberies on Monday, acting Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell yesterday said there will be increased police patrols, especially through the capital, where businesses have been targeted.
Brumell said police ruled out a link between the robberies but noted that entertainment events on the calendar may be responsible for the surge.
“That was quite a day and I pray we don’t have another one like that again… we are dealing with it, you know, it was just one of those days,” he said as he reflected on Monday, when there were at least five armed robberies or attempted robberies, including the attempted raid on a shop at Guyhoc Park that left a customer dead.
The attacks prompted both main opposition APNU and the Georgetown Chamber to voice their concern yesterday, with the political coalition once more calling on President Donald Ramotar to revoke Clement Rohee’s appointment as Minister of Home Affairs.
“A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) expresses its horror at the high rate of armed robberies and the state of insecurity and lawlessness that prevail under the stewardship of Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee,” the coalition said in a statement.
It recalled that it initiated a Motion of No-Confidence in Rohee’s ability to manage the security sector almost a year ago in the National Assembly and it said the Guyanese people, through their elected representatives, sent a clear message to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration that they had lost confidence in the Minister of Home Affairs. “The situation has gotten worse over the past year,” it added.
The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), meanwhile, also said it was “alarmed and unsettled” at the number of robberies targeting city businesses and businesspersons and urged the police to dedicate additional resources to protecting businesses as part of a strong response.
In addition to plans for increased patrols, Brumell yesterday also called on members of the public to assist the police by reporting any suspicious activities they see. He added that businesses can do their part by cutting back on the use of liquid cash, among other security strategies.
“We have to do something about the large sums of monies people walk around with. They have to get measures in place where businesses accept the [debit and credit] cards and cheques or something … long we have been saying this, large money transactions attract the bandits,” Brumell said.
Other measures that businesses can take, he said, include having point-of-sale machines to avoid customers toting huge amounts of liquid cash. He said that businesses also should have back-up security systems to ensure their safety. “People have to be more security conscious and alert as to what is going on around them. You go into the bank and you see one face twice, an alarm must go off: ‘Nah, this ain’t right .Something up here.’ You have to take note of your environment,” he said.
Further, Brumell said that businesses either transporting deposits or making withdrawals from the bank should hire security escorts so as to lessen their odds of being robbed. He said that they should also invest in security cameras for their establishments.
Asked what he believed was the reason for the spike in crime on Monday and if the robberies were related, Brumell said the police have ruled out that they were linked. However, he added that the police force has noted that when there are a lot on entertainment events on calendar, the crime rate goes up.
“The robberies weren’t linked. It’s just that there are just a lot of people that mean to live off of people through a life of crime. You have people who don’t want to make an honest dollar, they don’t want to work,” he said.
“Then every time you have like Christmas and big events coming up you see the increase. There is this Jamzone and this and that and these criminals now decide to go jamming to go into the zone…. Well, we are upping security so when their attempts foil and they get killed the rest will learn,” he added.
Brumell also said that although the force comes in for sharp criticism when bandits are killed, the work of the police force is not easy. “We take a lot of blows but we working,” he added.
