City Police are working

FOR THE month of October, the Port-of-Spain City Police arres-ted 64 persons and laid 164 charges for a range of offences committed in the capital, especially in the vicinity of Char-lotte Street. Acting Mayor Rishi Lakhan told Newsday the corporation was trying its best to deal with crime in the city and had established a special unit and a task force. He was responding to concerns by the Charlotte Street Vision 2004 Com-mittee, which earlier this week called for more police patrols and a 24-hour mobile police unit on the street. The committee said crime had been escalating over the last three months, with at least 15 to 30 crimes a day occurring on the street. Lakhan said the units were formed to patrol the streets as part of the Christmas and Carnival campaigns.

He said with the limited resources of the understaffed City Police, the units have been very successful in the first month of their establishment. He said in the first week of October, the units made 40 arrests and by the end of the month they had made 64 arrests, laying 164 charges for varying offences — from pick-pocketing to obscene language. However, Lakhan said because of the court appearances the officers have had and continue to make, they were now unable to regularly patrol the streets. He said if the police officers from the Central and Besson Street Police Stations, which have responsibility for the west and eastern sides of Charlotte Street respectively, were also to patrol the area, there would be marked improvements. Lakhan said Cabinet had approved the request by the corporation to get additional police but the process has not been completed.