Foot patrol by senior cops in the south

There was law order on the streets of the southland Saturday as senior police officers  toured High Street, San Fernando and Princes Town. In San Fernando the high ranking delegation of officers was led by Senior Supt Desmond Lambert of the Southern Division, and included ASP Corbett, ASP Mohammed, Supt Maraj and Insp James of the City Police. From 10 am until noon they patrolled High Street, Lord Street and Mucurapo Streets on foot. At various intervals they stopped to speak with businessmen, or warn street vendors against their practice. News of the presence of the high ranking  policemen seemed to have spread quickly, as  most vendors had already cleared their stalls and vacated the pavement by the time  they were at the middle of High Street. The owner of a  recreation club was summoned to meet with the Snr Supt today. He was also advised to bring with him the records relating to the business’ operations.

The Snr Supt referred the business place as what is commonly called a “glorified rumshop.” In recreation clubs, the Snr Supt explained there must only be members, or visitors accompanied  by members, one of the regulations the business place violated. Many civilians and businessmen expressed satisfaction with the patrol by the senior officers. One man during their patrol hailed,  “Officers on patrol, that is the way it supposed to be!” Another said ,  “It’s is good to see them out like this.” Businessman Harold Kalliecharan commenting on the foot patrol said, “ This is a fantastic idea; the officers spoke to us and  gave us the assurance that they would always be around to help; that really gives us confidence.” The Snr Supt speaking about the operation said, “Two components of the  police service mission statement is, safety and security of the citizens. It is with this in mind we attempted to have increased visibility in major shopping centres for shoppers and businessmen.” This is just one of the strategies that we’ll be introducing in the month of October onwards.” He said that similar operations were carried out in Princes Town by ASP Dhillpaul and Supt Nathaniel among others to achieve the same intentions as in San Fernando.