SEASONAL CAUTION

With the start of the Christmas season the Police Service should begin to caution persons to be on the alert against pickpockets and other bandits when shopping in downtown Port-of-Spain, Chaguanas and San Fernando, buying produce at the markets, jostling to enter maxi taxis or simply enjoying themselves at fetes.

In turn, because of the larger than usual number of cruise ships expected to call at Port-of-Spain this season the police should also be on the lookout not only for pickpockets, but for vendors of jewelry made of brass but coloured like gold, who over the years have tricked unsuspecting visitors and/or residents into believing they were made of gold, and sold them as such. Pickpockets, very often working in pairs, have cynically viewed the Christmas season as the peak period of their illegal trade, and take advantage of persons who become easy “marks” when, all too often, they leave their handbags unzipped, or their wallets bulging in backpockets.

Police patrols should be stepped up, not only in downtown areas, but in residential areas as well, to deal with dispatch, pickpockets, choke-and-rob bandits and burglars who break into homes. Despite the increasing levels of housebreaking there are still many persons who leave their homes relatively unsecured. Householders should report to the police any strangers seen acting suspiciously in their neighbourhoods. Special attention should be paid at night by the police to stores on lightly-trafficked and dimly-lit streets. It is not enough for the police to be expected to increase their patrols. Store owners should install burglar alarm systems as well as come together to hire security guards to patrol, where feasible, both the front and back of their business places.

Meanwhile, with the Christmas season virtually synonymous with the increased use of alcohol, the police should launch a media campaign advising motorists against drinking and driving, as well as speeding on the country’s roads. The lives the motorists save may be their own. The Traffic Branch should increase their road patrols and crack down on errant drivers who, in addition to speeding, overtake long lines of traffic, sometimes using the shoulder of the road.

Unfortunately, however, in spite of the need by the police to be more pro-active, whether at this time of the year or not, many telephone calls to the police by persons, who have been robbed or whose homes have been burglarised, have gone without active response. Either there is the excuse that there are no vehicles available, or that officers, who never turn up, will be around later. Even when the distressed persons make the report in person to a police station there is still inaction. But unless our police officers are prepared to act promptly and decisively on reports of crimes, this Christmas season will be a bleak one for many shoppers and householders.