Citizens a no-show at police Manpower Audit Meeting

Event organisers admitted on Thursday evening that the event had not been advertised well and that may have been one reason for the near-non-existent turnout.

But Deosaran told reporters, “It takes a lot of work to bring the public out, because you are fighting the public’s lack of confidence.

This has been done over and over so many times before, without any result. So the public might just say, ‘Why go another time?’” The meeting was scheduled to begin at about 6.30 pm. Officials intended to present their findings from examining police performance, the professional integrity of the police service and its level of accountability.

They hoped they would be able to use the people who attended the meeting as a sounding board to determine whether increases in technology and manpower would be a necessary and welcome improvement in the service. The manpower audit committee was also seeking feedback to see how satisfied the public was with the police’s performance, and how they believed the police could improve their performance.

Newsday also spoke with Ronald Frederick, the only member of the public at the meeting.

Frederick, a taxi driver and vice president of the St Ann’s Taxi Drivers’ Association, said he heard about the event through a mutual friend, but did not see any advertisement for it. He said he came to the meeting to ask for a higher police presence on the roads in St Ann’s to stymie the number of PH drivers working the route. However, none of that happened, because no one came.