Five robbed daily ?

On a daily or nightly basis, as many as five persons are robbed at the Brian Lara Promenade in Port-of-Spain, and officers assigned to the Police Mobile Unit at Independence Square, are unable to respond to those reports because only two officers are on duty there.

Police records revealed that the people robbed on the Promenade are relieved of cash, jewelry, cellphones and other valuables, and reports to officers at the mobile booth are not dealt with, because the officers there cannot leave the unit.

The victims are sent to the Central Police Station, but by the time officers there respond to the reports, the suspects would have long fled the scene.

Sources revealed yesterday that due to the severe manpower shortage in the Port-of-Spain Division, no officer is being assigned to the Skywatch unit located adjacent to the mobile police unit.

As a result, the people who carry out robberies and larceny at the Brian Lara Promenade are not picked up by the surveillance camera because no one is inside the unit to operate the camera there.

The camera at the Skywatch unit was only installed earlier this year.

Yesterday, officers at the mobile unit told Newsday that while they are willing to do the work assigned to them, they are unable to respond to reports.

“We are simply not authorised to close the unit and respond to reports, “said officers.

Recently, a Newsday employee whose car was stolen saw his vehicle parked outside a fast food restaurant on Independence Square. The employee ran to the police mobile booth to alert the officers that he had seen his car, but officers could not assist because only two of them were on duty at the unit.

Apart from that, officers at the mobile unit are now threatening to abandon duties there if conditions at the unit are not improved.

Officers claimed that since last week, the lights in the unit are not working and the toilet located inside the unit is not flushing.

Coupled with that the shed attached to the unit collapsed.

Officers are forced to use the toilets at the nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet and depend on bottled water which is provided for them .

“We are simply not motivated to work under these horrible conditions” said the digruntled officers.