IN recognition of the hard work of police officers of Region Three, the Regional Executive Officer (REO) of the said region, Jennifer Ferreira- Dougall, in her personal capacity, donated a substantial amount of face masks to the officers.

At the short handing over at the Leonora Police Station on Monday, the REO said she recognised that cops in Region Three are doing an exceptional job as it relates to COVID-19, and the fight against it.

She further recognised that because the police are considered essential workers, they must be well equipped to fight the deadly virus and at the same time maintain law and order.

“That is why my personal donation of these face masks is expected to assist police officers so that we can fight COVID-19 as a team. I must thank you for the wonderful job you are doing, and I must remind the public that police are human beings too and are subject to be affected, and they too are considered hard workers like our nurses and doctors and we must respect and give regards to them,” Ferreira- Dougall said.

Receiving the donation was the Regional Commander, Simon McBean, who is also the police representative on the region’s task force.
McBean said the masks would be useful to officers in line, as they are reusable and the force is a 24-hour organisation.

“And because we are a 24-hour organisation, the quantum where mask is concerned, will always be a challenge. So having these reusable ones, we will be able to manage better, because they can be washed and we can have them for a longer period,” he said.
He noted too that the masks will be given to frontline officers (about 160 of them) and another 160 will be made available so that all the officers will benefit.

McBean told the Guyana Chronicle that the officers continue to work tirelessly in the region to ensure that persons stay in line with the Public Health Ordinance.
“We continue to conduct road blocks and patrol to keep people in line with the emergency response requirements. If they are frequent breech of these requirements, like more than one and two times, they will be charged and placed before the court,” he said.

There has not been any such care this far, he added, noting that the task force has been carrying out their work effectively.
“We have established road blocks at the Demerara Harbour Bridge, Den Amstel, Leonora, Vreed-en-Hoop, Wales and other key areas in the region.

The road block is for us to target non-essential vehicles, and enquire where they’re headed and what they are going there for. This task force that was put together is a team consisting of police and members from the Ministry of Public Health and we have been going around, at each business establishment and ensuring that they are operating within the guidelines provided. And we also have our patrols going around to ensure that people are off the road.”