Terror at UWI

THE UWI Guild of Students is again appealing for more security in and around the St Augustine campus, in response to a series of attacks on off-campus students over the last two weeks. At a press conference on campus yesterday, Guild president Glenn Ramadhar Singh said the “continued terrorism and lack of consistency” as it related to security has to be urgently dealt with. He said at least nine reports of robberies against off-campus students have been made in the last two weeks and efforts to contact campus administrators and the Police Commissioner to address the issue have been futile. He said he wanted parents to know what their children were being exposed to. Singh said a meeting was held with victims of the violent robberies on Wednesday evening and the Guild was “bombarded with requests from students of all backgrounds and ages” to do something about the poor security.

He said when reports are made to campus security, the first question asked was whether it occurred on campus and if not, they say, “Wow! We are absolved.” He said the Guild didn’t want to reach a position where it would ask students to arm themselves, but something has to happen. He suggested security time zones be created, so that students will know when it was safe to leave the campus. Guild PRO Danny Maharaj said the large off-campus population of between 2,000 to 3,000 students off all ages and backgrounds were at risk. He said the mobile Police Post on the southern side of the campus, the foot patrols along the perimeter fences, as well as the escort services have “degenerated and disappeared.” He said no explanations were given for their disappearance, except that a permanent police post is to be built. Ravi Ratiram, coordinator of the off-campus students, noted that “Students are fed up and frustrated.” He also charged that when students “stand up,” they are victimised by the administrators.

One robbery victim, a second-year engineering student who wished not to be identified, told Newsday he and two friends were robbed of cash and their cellphones when armed bandits accosted them on Dookiesingh Street, after they left campus around 1 am. He said the bandits threatened to kill his female friend if she screamed. He said the incident had affected their studying hours and their parents were also concerned for their lives. An official at the university told Newsday that Singh met “recently” with principal Dr Bhoe Tewarie to discuss the parking issue and security did come up. He could not say if any changes would come out of the meeting. Head of security on the campus, Wayne Richardson, confirmed students have been robbed, but said it wasn’t a “crime wave.” He said they had three reports of students being robbed at gunpoint and relieved of cash and cell phones.

He said two incidents occurred within the last two weeks and the other about six weeks ago.  He said he had met with Singh when the first incident took place and the Guild was supposed to arrange a meeting with off-campus students so that he could speak with them on security. Richardson also told Newsday there have been regular foot and bicycle patrols on campus and regular mobile patrols on the periphery of the campus. He said the mobile Police Post had indeed been moved from the southern side outside the campus, because the police indicated they did not want it at a fixed spot, due to the nationwide crime wave. The mobile unit, said Richardson, has been in the vicinity of the campus, “not as regularly as we would like, but they have been at Evans Street since Tuesday, and at least four other occasions before that.” Richardson said while everything wasn’t perfect, they were trying their best to deal with the campus’ security issues.