The claim by police ranks that there are no vehicles available to respond to the reports of crime is unfortunate and unacceptable, according to acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine, who is urging members of the public to report such cases to the force.
He was at the time responding to a news report that ranks at two police stations did not respond to an in-progress, break-in attempt at a Diamond, East Bank Demerara home last Wednesday, around 3.30 am, because they did not have an operational vehicle. Ranks claimed that the vehicles assigned to Grove Police Station and the Diamond Police Station had broken down. At the time, a woman was alone in her home as bandits tried to gain entry.
Ramnarine yesterday told Stabroek News that an investigation has been launched into the report, which he asked the Divisional Commander to look into.
Ramnarine stated that he doesn’t see what had transpired as a problem with the vehicles. “One does not always get the resources asked for but would have to manage what you have,” he said. “If it’s true about what happened at Diamond, that was a very poor response. It is not one that we encourage and it is most unfortunate,” he added.
He further said that if a vehicle assigned to one station is not available, ranks are to call the nearest police station or police headquarters for assistance and “there will be a response.” Ranks, he added, are aware of this procedure.
He described what occurred during the Diamond report as “sheer laziness,” while adding that the ranks may not understand the full extent of their role and function.
Asked what a member of the public is to do if confronted with such a situation, he advised that contact be made senior ranks within the division. He noted that every police station has the contact numbers of the senior ranks for the entire division, including the Divisional Commander and the ranks in charge of traffic and crime, posted up and that they are there for use by the members of the public.
Ramnarine said that senior ranks at the individual stations are responsible for ensuring that the numbers for these key persons are within public view and to ensure that ranks don’t take them down. “Once people call, they should get a response,” he stressed.
Brian David, of Block ‘X,’ Diamond and his wife have been left traumatised by the attempted break-in and he is fearful that his home will be targeted again.
He had been working along the East Coast Demerara, when his wife called and told him persons were trying to break into their single-flat house.
He said he told his terrified wife to stay in the house and to call the Diamond Police Station. Alarmed himself, David made his way home.
David said during his drive down the coast, his wife called again and this time she was more frantic. “She call me hollering for help. She said she was hearing them going around the house, removing the window panes and rocking the grill,” David said.
Helpless, he said he asked his wife if the police had arrived as yet and she replied in the negative. His wife told him she had called both the Diamond and Grove police stations and was told the police were coming. David said one station even returned a call to find out if the bandits were still there.
By this time, neighbours, alerted by his wife’s screams, got up and began to put on their lights, though no one ventured outside.
This, coupled with the inability to get past the iron grilles, saw the bandits abandoning their quest to enter the home. By the time David arrived home, they had left.
David said that he later visited the police stations and was told that the vehicles had broken down and he had questioned how both police stations could have had inoperable vehicles at the same time.
Over the years, the police have consistently received assistance to ensure vehicles are available for them to conduct patrols.
However, public complaints about ranks using the excuse that no vehicle is available to respond to reported crimes have persisted.
