…Stabroek Market area to be made safe
Commissioner of Police Henry Greene Thursday said that the intention of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for the Christmas season is to sanitize the Stabroek Market area and make it safe for people to commute. He said, “Quite recently we targeted Stabroek Market area and we have done quite a lot of work there, and we will complete it because we want to make it a safe place for people to stand and commute.”

The Top Cop added that they have deployed ranks there in both plain clothes and uniform and they are geared to stamp out all skullduggery and crimes that go on around there.
Greene added that he has since charged the Commander of ‘A’ Division and the Officer in Charge of Tactical Service Unit (TSU) to ensure that Stabroek Market area becomes a place where a man can answer his cell phone without being afraid of it being snatched by thieves.
He said, “Imagine, we have had complaints that people are afraid to answer their cell phones there because someone would snatch it, and I think that is a distressing situation.”
The Commissioner told the gathering during the GPF presentation of its Christmas Policing 2010 Plan at Police Officer’s Mess, Eve Leary, Georgetown, that people can be seen sitting in the streets at tables drinking, and he has asked the City Constabulary and the Ministry of Public Works to assist the police in curbing such lawlessness since the streets were designed for vehicles and pedestrians and not for people to sit and have drinks.
As Greene rolled out the plan to police Guyana for the Christmas season, he said that all commanders in all the divisions are required to do their presentations also, when they must invite members of the business community and the media so that people could understand what they plan to do to make the place safer.
Greene stated that the police have been doing a lot of work in the streets where they have incorporated ranks of TSU on motorcycles to patrol the city. The TSU are presently in certain hotspots since they have been specially trained to deal with situations as they may arise.
He added that a recently trained anti-crime unit from the TSU has been deployed to work in Bartica, as well as in several other areas across the country, including Berbice and interior locations.
Green said, “We have even gone to look at areas where people stand to wait on transportation; we make sure it is safer for people to get home in the afternoons and noted that there has been some successes.”
The Commissioner told the gathering that for the festive season, TSU ranks will fan out in all areas and will be backed up by motorcycles, vehicles, and foot patrols ranks, and they will be coverage in some areas on a 24-hour basis.
He stated that the police will continue to work in Agricola since it was revealed that some criminal elements are there and they prey on residents while they are going home from work.
He pointed out that for the Christmas period, ranks will maintain road block exercises where they will stop and search commuters and vehicles when something happens.
He said, “Normally, we have a plan that when there is a robbery, we lock the city and search for that vehicle…but sometimes we get the report late and that is why we don’t always have the successes that we should have in terms of these things.”
Greene said too that ranks who perform office duties will be sent out on patrol for the Christmas season and all riverine areas will be policed by ranks in boats around the clock and road blocks will be set up when necessary in the interior as well.
The Commissioner added that there will be an increased police presence in Amelia’s Ward as a result of criminal activities there.
The Commissioner is appealing to citizens to bear with policemen as road blocks are set up and raids are conducted, since this is all part of the plan to ensure their safety and well-being.