— Divisional Commander urges Rose Hall Town residents

GUYANA Police Force ‘B’ Division Commander, Ian Amsterdam, is urging Rose Hall Town residents to speak out against criminal elements, as failure to do so might hurt them.
“If you don’t speak out people will continue to hide and hold you at siege. Don’t wait until they attack you. When you see something or hear of anything, report it to the police,” he said.

The commander made the appeal at a meeting with residents of Rose Hall Town last Monday to address safety concerns in light of the recent violent deaths of two persons there in the past few weeks.
The meeting, which was held at St. Francis Community Developers, Portuguese Quarters head office, saw attendance by members of the business community and residents who shared their concerns with Amsterdam and his team.

Amsterdam reported that since the last consultation in 2016, the Police Force has made some adjustments, based on the recommendation of residents.
However, he stressed that a lot more has to be done since the town seems to have become a haven for criminal elements.

“These are known characters and we have to be vigilant, we need to be doing surveillance on them to know what they are planning and be proactive to prevent the crime from occurring. If you want your community to be safe, you need to work together with us so we can get the bad people out of Rose Hall,” he said.
Meanwhile, officer-in-charge of Number Two Sub Division, Kurleigh Simon, said the goal this year is to reduce crime by 30 per cent, and the Social Crime Prevention Strategy for youths will be vigorously promoted.

According to Simon, ranks have been visiting various schools and doing motivational talks about discipline, respect for self, respect for the institution and respect for their uniform and career goals, in an effort to help youths break away from glorified tattoos and gangster lifestyles.
Further, he noted that there are 11 youth groups with 356 active members that the police have helped to get off the streets and be meaningfully occupied.
The residents in attendance called for more patrols and harsher penalties for criminals.