With the Christmas season approaching, the police have developed a plan that will divide Georgetown into five sectors to tackle the increase in crime that usually appears.
“Like customary from November 15 to January 15, we would normally intensify our policing activities because we anticipate we will have an increase in the commercial activity in the city and its environs,” Commander of ‘A’ Division Clifton Hicken announced yesterday as the force unveiled its security plan for the season.
He said there will be an increase in foot and vehicular patrols around the city, as the intention of the force is to minimise criminal activities in the period, and also lower the traffic congestion and road accidents, in order to provide a safe environment for citizens, visitors, businesses, and commuters.
He also said the force has a method and a plan which will divide George-town into five sectors that can be adequately policed. “By doing so, we have a more hands-on approach and each sector will be commanded by an assistant superintendent and a cadet officer,” he said.
In addition, there will be heightened special operations by the Criminal Investigations Department and ranks from the intelligence units around the banks and there will be a focus on noise nuisance, the Georgetown prison, hotels, nightspots, places of business, post offices. In addition, focus will also be placed on the social crime prevention in communities. “With our outreach programme, we are not gonna wait until something happens and then the police are going to be swarming into the communities. What we are doing now is going to the community under normal circumstances to find out what are some of the problems so we can nip it in the bud,” Hicken explained.
The police have already started this in a way, initiating 12 youth groups which consist of about 400 children in total across several communities known for a high level of crime. “It’s obvious if you have that kind of commanding control over those children, then it is building trust with the parents and by doing so we build intel capacity and it is evident that we are solving crimes not through confrontation but through intelligence-led policing,” he added.
Sector One will cover the seawall, north; Hadfield Street, south; Camp Street, east and the Demerara River, west. This sector will have four booths and 16 beat patrols. Sector Two includes Hadfield Street, north; Independence Boulevard, south; Camp Street, east and Demerara River, west. It will have two booths and two beat patrols. Sector Three is the seawall, north; Croal Street, south; Vlissengen Road east; and Camp Street west with three booths and two beat and vehicle patrols. Sector Four will cover North and South roads, Princes Street, south; Vlissengen Road, east and Camp and Russell streets west with foot, motorcycles, and vehicle patrols. Finally, Sector Five will cover the seawall, north; Princes Street, south; Sheriff Street, east and Vlissengen road west with four beat patrols, motorcycles and vehicle patrols.
The foot patrols will be done on a shift system from 7 am to 1 pm and 12 pm to 7 pm and between December 22 and 24, and 29 and 31 the timings will be adjusted to accommodate the late shopping. Motorcycle and vehicle patrols will be done on a 24-hour basis with 12-hour shifts. To address airport robberies, the force will obtain the itineraries of late-night flights and supply extra cover for the East Bank Demerara as well as more road blocks.
While road fatalities are currently lower than for the same period last year—120 in 2014 and 103 in 2015—there will be extra traffic patrols around the city and instead of traffic lights the police officers will be controlling the traffic in a bid to lessen congestion and road accidents. Access to several roads around the main business areas will also be blocked and the force will be strictly enforcing parking regulations. The force will also being focusing on minibuses and taxis that tend to overload during the Christmas season.
